


Shampoo Bottles and Red Toyotas

by itsaripoff123



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Feels, Family Fluff, First Meetings, Fluff, James Potter is a Good Friend, M/M, Meet-Cute, Remus Lupin being an icon, Remus Lupin is a good dad, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin Friendship, Sirius Black Being an Idiot, cute parent moments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29697948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsaripoff123/pseuds/itsaripoff123
Summary: Sirius watched as the blue haired boy ran out of the class door and across the yard. As he got closer he noticed the jacket he was wearing was covered in patches - Velvet underground, X-ray Spex, Ramones - and as he got even closer, Sirius noticed the T-shirt he was wearing underneath quite clearly stated 'death to the patriarchy'. Sirius continued to watch as the little boy flew right past him and James and into the waiting arms of a man stood a few feet behind them.“D’ya think I did good, Dad?” he asked as the guy scooped him up into his arms, and held him against his hip, “I think I did good anyways.”“You did great, Sprout.” The man said, Shit. Shit, shit! That was the man who had sat next to Sirius during the performance…-----Remus Lupin is a single dad, who Sirius meets (and unwittingly insults) at his nephew's school play. He's handsome, funny, and seemingly very put together. Remus is a secondary school english teacher and hoards books, Sirius owns a cafe/record store and hoards records. They have lots in common and keep running into each other, who knows what will happen :) [Rated T because ofa lotof swearing. ]
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 23
Kudos: 96





	1. Teddy is a punk

**Author's Note:**

> ok so the title wasn't this originally, it was "We're a happy family." but I changed it to "Shampoo Bottles and Red Toyotas" because its more relevant to the plot and I prefer it.
> 
> Title of this chapter is also a nod to the Ramones song "Judy is a punk." and then there's also a blitzkrieg bop reference in here somewhere. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy.

It was three o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon and Sirius Black was lying on the living room floor listening to Adam and the Ants and trying to come up with a decent excuse not to clean his kitchen when his phone rang. Rolling onto his side, he reached for it and checked the caller ID before answering.

“Yeah?”

“Hiya, yeah. You’re not busy tonight are you?” James asked, he sounded a little bit stressed. Sirius sat up and ran a hand through his hair, he brought one of his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on it; James didn’t usually call him, he was a text kind of guy, which meant this was either something urgent, important or more likely James had broken the dishwasher - again. 

“No, why?” Sirius sounded a bit tentative, he really didn’t fancy spending his night putting appliances back together before Lily got home. He had enough home maintenance to deal with in his own flat before taking on James’ problems, and if he really, desperately wanted to toil away under a sink this evening he’d rather fix the one in the café that’d been on the blink. (Perhaps ‘on the blink’ is putting it lightly, it had sprayed him in the face three times that morning alone.) 

“It’s the opening night tonight. Of Harry’s play, I mean. Well, obviously Harry’s play I’m not planning on going to any other plays. Not that I haven’t been to see plays, me and Lils went to- '' James was speaking fast, sounding beyond flustered and Sirius didn’t need to see him to know he was chewing the arms of his glasses, he stopped and took a deep breath, “Lily is stuck in Glasgow, can you come tonight? Give her your ticket for Friday instead?” 

Sirius swayed his head to one side, then the other, exhaled through his nose and said; “Yeah. Yes, ok.” Sirius heard James clapping his hands together through the phone, then he heard him exhale heavily. 

“Great. You’re a lifesaver, mate. Uh, be ‘round here at four, look presentable.” James seemed calmer now, he paused for a beat before adding, “Don’t be late. I’m serious.”

Sirius chuckled slightly, “No, I’m Sirius.” He heard James chuckle a little before the line disconnected. Sirius put his phone down next to him and lay back down on the wine-stained carpet just in time to hear Adam Ants distinctive voice tell Ronnie to get his feet off the upholstery. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, at least he didn’t have to clean his kitchen now; but, he should probably get dressed. 

James practically tore his front door of the hinges when he opened it for Sirius, his hair was messier than usual - as if he’d been tugging at it - and he had a crazed look in his eye. 

“You’re late.” He told Sirius, flatly. 

Sirius flicked his wrist out and looked down to check his watch, it was four-o-five, he shot James a sympathetic look before following him into the house. The lounge was an absolute pig-sty, the lamp in the corner had been knocked over and one of the couch cushions was on the floor; the draws from the TV unit where all open and there was bits of paper strewn everywhere, if Sirius didn’t know any better he’d assume the Potter’s had been burgled. Fortunately, he did know better, allowing him to identify this as _Hurricane James_ rather than premeditated crime. He walked into the centre of the room, being careful not to step on anything that’d found its way onto the carpet. 

“Jesus mate, it looks like a bomb went off.” He said to James, who had passed through the lounge area into the kitchen, and was going through the top drawers of the island, he riffeld through paper and pulled random bits out before he sighed and opened another drawer, doing the same process again. 

James shook his head and pushed his glasses up his nose more, “Can’t find the bloody tickets can I? Not a clue where she’s put them.” He moved onto another drawer, “I’ve looked everywhere!” He went back to pillaging drawers - that were likely meticulously organized by Lily - and pulling out stacks of paper before flicking through them and throwing them back down.

“I can see that.” Sirius said, gesturing to the mess before heading into the kitchen. He looked around briefly before something on the caulk notice board above the dining table caught his eye, he sighed and shook his head, walking over to it and pulled out the thumbtack and took hold of it before turning round to James. “Found them.” _They were right in front of you, you daft ape, right where Lily left them_ he wanted to say, but managed to hold in the needless taunting, “Right where Lily left them.” 

James’ head shot up, he turned towards Sirius to see what he was holding and a look of relief spread across his face when he identified that the papers he was holding were indeed the tickets for the play. He made his way over to Sirius, grabbed the tickets out his hands and brought them up to his face, before kissing the papers. Sirius smiled at him, _mad bastard._

“Thank the gods.” He held the tickets up in front of his face, like they were some kind of divine gift and promptly started muttering something in Hindi before he stopped abruptly and turned to Sirius and practically yelled, “What are you waiting for? We’re late, go, go, get out.” He ushered Sirius towards the door, grabbing his ‘nice anorak’ from the wonky coat hanger as they passed. For some reason that made Sirius feel even more overdressed than he usually did when he wasn’t wearing cheap band t-shirts and jeans, he’d dug out his one button-up shirt for this and there was James with his _Regatta Wind-X 5_. James pushed his keys into the door and had reached up to punch in the alarm code before Sirius grabbed his shoulder, and turned him to face the stairs at the end of the hallway and gestured to Harry who was sat on the bottom step fiddling away on his DS. 

“Forgetting something?” Sirius asked sarcastically, then shook his head. 

“Oh yeah,” he muttered, then holding his hand out in Harry’s direction, “Come on Harry.” Harry promptly got up and put his DS down on the stairs and adjusted his little red puffer coat before setting off in a wobbly run towards his dad, grabbing his hand and swinging out the door and onto the step. 

James went back to locking-up and Harry moved towards Sirius, standing up on his tiptoes to give his uncle a hug around the waist. Sirius rubbed his hand through Harry’s messy hair and smiled down at him.

“You ok, kiddo?” 

Harry nodded to him and removed his hands from around Sirius, “Yup, think Daddy’s gone mad though.” he shot a look back at James who now appeared to be pressing random buttons of the house alarm system. 

“Yeah, probably. Come on, we’ll wait in the car.” He held his hand out for Harry to take and when he did they set off down the narrow path through the front garden towards the pavement where James’ car was parked. Harry pulled and swang on Sirius’ arm a little as they walked and it put a brighter smile on Sirius’ face, he’d much rather spend time with Harry and go and see his play than mope about in his flat. “Are you excited to make your acting debut then?” he asked once they reached the Subaru. 

Harry nodded fast, leaning against the back door of the car, and looking back up to the house to see that his dad had finally locked the door and was now shrugging on his bright yellow coat over his pink check-shirt; Sirius shook his head, James really was a fashion disaster without Lily to tell him what went with what. 

“Right gang, let's get this show on the road.” He shouted, clapping his hands together once, just before he reached them, and unlocked the car. 

“Hey, ho, lets go.” Sirius echoed as he turned around to help Harry into his booster seat. James walked around the car to the drivers side and was starting the engine by the time Sirius had got Harry buckled in. After he slipped into the passenger seat, he flicked on the radio and relaxed into his seat. He could feel Harry’s excited kicks to the back of his chair as they drove towards the school, which in turn got Sirius more excited for the play; he loved stuff that made Harry happy, they all did. 

After dropping Harry off at the reception classroom so his teachers can get him into costume, James and Sirius made their way to the main entrance of the school, chatting idly about how annoyed Lily will be that she couldn't make it, and cursing the train service. The lobby had been decorated with sparkling cut out bean shapes and a banner hung over the doors to the hall reading _Jack and the Beanstalk_. James fumbled around in the pockets of his anorak and produced their tickets, showing them to one of the teachers who was standing near the doors, and then pointed them to their seats. 

The set of the play was nothing dramatic, there was a raised stage and few layered benches in front and to the side, even from their seats at the back left of the room Sirius was pretty confident they’d still be able to see. James however, was less convinced. 

“What if the person who comes and sits there,” He paused and gestured to the seats in front of them, “Is really tall, and we can’t see ‘round then and don’t get a decent view of Harry for the whole thing?” He was waving a little _St. Agnes’ Jack and the Beanstalk_ pamphlets around in the air as he talked. 

“You’re six-foot-one, James. I think you’ll be fine.” He told him. Snatching the pamphlet and opening it up, there were a few photos from the rehearsals in it, but it mostly appeared to be older kids, and no photos of Harry. James huffed beside him and Sirius turned the page, there was a list of characters and what students played them, he dragged his finger down the page until he found Harry’s name and then nuged James to look. “Harry Potter, magic bean number six.”

James snatched the pamphlet back and started to look at rather adoringly, “That’s my boy,” he sniffed a bit and Sirius was worried he was going to start crying before the play even started, “All grown up, next you know he’ll be on broadway.” He dabbed his eye with the corner of his sleeve, and Sirius, now understanding that James was making a joke, started fake snivelling too. 

“They grow up so fast, Jamie,” he said, slinging his arm up to rub James’ back, “I hope he just remembers us mortals once he’s in the limelight!” James choked back a loud and clearly fake sob, before it morphed into a thick laughter that Sirius couldn’t help join in. 

“He’ll never forget us Pads, we taught him everything he knows.” 

“You can’t say for sure, fame gets to people's heads, yano? Once he’s out their mingling with the Scarlet Johansen and Meryl Streep types, he might forget the likes of you and me.” He and James were laughing hard, and loudly, and had probably drawn unwanted attention to themselves. James continued regardless. 

“Do you think he’d introduce me to Morgan Freeman? It’s always been my dream to meet him.”

“I doubt it, James. Who knows if he’ll even remember your name when he’s made it big, you might as well say goodbye now.”

James, half choked on his own spit trying to stop laughing sat still and tried to look thoughtful by clasping his hands in front of himself , “Harry, my boy, taken from us too soon by the glitz and glamour. We, his family, are not gone, but we are forgotten.” They laughed so hard his stomach hurt, trying to compose themselves multiple times but falling back into fits of giggles every time they made eye-contact. 

Once he’d finally regained composure Sirius scanned the room for any indicators of the play starting soon, and noticed that the audience had pretty much all arrived. The rest of the seats on their row were now occupied as were the seats in front of them - luckily by an elderly couple, and thus their view remained unobstructed. Looking up to his left Sirius made rather awkward eye contact with the man next to him, who had kept rearranging his legs in order to fit himself comfortably into the small seat. 

Almost immediately after the tall man had offered a small smile, the lights in the hall had dimmed and a little boy, of around ten had appeared on the stage shouting “Hear ye, hear ye!” Sirius sighed and settled further down into the plastic chair, pulled out his camera and began waiting (moderately) patiently for Harry to appear. 

It seemed James was having the same attention deficit problem because he kept leaning over to Sirius mumbling random comments about the quality of the acting, the rudeness of some of the parents who were taking photos with flash on, or straight up just asking when Harry would be on; a question to which, Sirius just shrugged in answer. Sirius, in return, nudged James and pointed out certain parents whenever a child was onstage he guessed could be theirs, and tried to deduce what all the songs were parodies of. 

It was about twenty minutes before seven little boys, wearing brown cardboard cutouts doused in silver glitter meandered onto the stage. James spotted Harry immediately - either parental instinct, or because he may well be the only non-white child in the whole school - and instantly sat straighter in his seat, holding his video camera up above his head and started filming. Sirius had a slower reaction, because instead of focusing on Harry, he was looking at the magic-bean that stood to Harry’s left: the magic-bean with bright blue hair. Sometimes Sirius would blame his upbringing for his snideness, but he knows that isn’t true; his upbringing may have taught him to be nasty and judgemental, but it taught him to do it silently. Before he even pieced together a fully coherent thought Sirius had angled his head slightly towards James and started talking. 

“That kid has blue hair.” He began, his brain had yet to catch up with his mouth, “that four year old has blue bloody hair. what kind of parent-“ it’d caught up now. He all but slapped his hand over his mouth when he realised the tall and uncomfortable man next to him was shaking slightly with silent laughter. Sirius blushed scarlett, _Shit_ , he thought, _this bloke must think i’m some kind of judgemental twat… Maybe I am some kind of judgemental twat?_ Before he got too carried away on that train of thought he stopped himself. He swallowed thickly and conceded to just raise his camera and snap some photos of Harry, who, along with the rest of the magic-beans was singing a very timid song about the power of magic. They smiled, raised their little hands, span in circles and did a few other dance moves; it was actually pretty sweet. 

As it turned out, the performing aspect of being a magic-bean was very short lived, because straight after their song the boys retreated off the stage to sit on the bench in front of it. When seated Harry started to scan the audience for James and Sirius, who after catching the boys eye started waving dramatically - James may or may not have stuck his tongue out, causing Harry to smother a laugh with his hand. The remainder of the play continued relatively uneventfully, there was a minor slip up with the children inside the pantomime cow and Jack's mother had forgotten his lines a few times, but all in all it turned out ok. After all the students had come back to the stage, and received an enthusiastic standing ovation from parents and relatives, the headmistress - a rather stern looking scottish woman - gave a speech thanking parents for their attendance and teachers for their hard work. Once the stage was completely cleared, Sirius and James got up and ambled their way outside and back to the doors to the reception classroom, where they waited for Harry. 

“Lily’ll be fuming she missed it after I show her that video.” James told Sirius as they shuffled around waiting. 

“She’ll see him on Friday, hardly the end of the world.” He answered, keeping his eyes firmly on the classroom door and watching as the occasional child slipped out and ran towards their waiting parents. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I know. But, _opening night!_ ” 

Sirius nodded in understanding and watched as the blue haired boy ran out of the class door and across the yard. As he got closer Sirius noticed the denim jacket he was wearing was covered in patches for bands - Velvet underground, X-ray Spex, Ramones - and as he got even closer, Sirius noticed the T-shirt he was wearing underneath quite clearly stated _death to the patriarchy_. Sirius watched - a little in awe - as the little boy flew right past him and James and into the waiting arms of a man stood a few feet behind them. 

“D’ya think I did good, Dad?” he asked as the guy scooped him up into his arms, and held him against his hip, “I think I did good anyways.” He decided, resting his little blue head against the man's tweed-clad shoulder. 

“You did great, Sprout.” The man said, bringing up one of his boney hands and ruffling the kids hair. _Shit. Shit, shit!_ That was the man who had sat next to Sirius during the performance… Sirius' jaw dropped open as he made eye-contact with the - actually rather handsome in the light of day - gangly man, and his son. He closed his mouth and smiled weakly. If he’d paid more attention to the man when they were in the hall he probably would have picked the boy out as his child; they both had the same strong, large but perfect nose and bone structure, both very pale but not sickly looking, the man of course didn’t have blue hair, (it was brown, and slightly curly, and Sirius had a strange desire to touch it) but that obviously is not a genetic trait.

“I’m sorry about what I said before,” Sirius started, “About the- your son's hair. I didn’t mean anything by it. I can be so dense sometimes. Honestly, I realised as soon as i’d said it, I’d have apologised straight away if I knew. I’m really not the judgemental and rude type; god, sounds like I’m making excuses now. I’m sorry, mate I really am.” 

The man cut him off with a light chuckle before Sirius could continue his verbal diarrhea and said, “Don’t worry about it. It was his mother’s doing anyway, I’ve always found it a bit gaudy.” His voice was calm, and had a pretty distinctive northern accent, making his slow drawl sound more genuine somehow. His son, seeming to have worked out that his dad had insulted his hair, raised his head off his dad’s shoulder and set his jaw. 

“It’s punk rock.” The little boy said solidly, looking at his dad, and then to Sirius. Sirius was stunned to silence for a moment and the boy's dad just shook his head slightly and sighed. Smiling, Sirius raised his hand up to the boy, tucking his middle and ring finger down, the boy regarded him for a moment before doing the same and sticking his tongue out. Not one for being outdone, Sirius stuck his tongue out too, he must’ve looked like a right prat doing the rock & roll symbol in his white button down and italian jacket; he didn’t really care though, because it made the kid laugh. 

The little boy's dad was laughing as well, it was quiet and barely audible; he looked fondly at his son and adjusted the boy against his hip as he squirmed around. He looked back across to Sirius and smiled at him, _lord he really was a handsome bloke_ , a small dimple formed in his left cheek and minor laugh lines around his eyes became more prominent. 

Sirius looked back to the little boy, “You’re right, it’s totally punk rock. Silly me for not realising sooner.” 

“s’alright.” The boy said, “Old people can be a bit slow sometimes.” 

“Teddy!” The boy's dad chided, the corner of his lip twitched into a grin, “You can’t stay stuff like that.” 

“Hey! I’m not old. And I'll have you know, I’m totally cool.” The boy laughed twice as hard as he had before, Sirius continued, “Don’t laugh, I'm properly punk.” 

“No you’re not.” 

“Yes I am.” Sirius gestured to himself, the boy laughed even harder, he was practically vibrating; his dad clutched him a little tighter to keep him still. 

“You can’t be, you look like one of those men,” he paused for a moment, “The money men.” and then looked up to his dad, “What did Mummy call them?” 

The boy’s dad sighed, heavily. “The bourgeoisie.” 

Sirius couldn’t hold back the loud bark of laughter that caused, he couldn’t work out what was funnier; that a four year old had clocked him as a member of the uptight upper class, or the reluctant way his dad had supplied the word. Before Sirius had stopped sputtering James was tugging on his sleeve to get him to turn around, and then gesturing to Harry who was emerging from the classroom door. 

When he caught sight of his Dad and Uncle waiting for him, he broke into a run and didn’t stop until he collided with James’ legs. 

“You were great Harry, the best magic-bean I’ve ever seen.” He said, patting Harry’s head. 

“Really?” Harry asked, stepping back to look up at their faces. 

“Yeah, one-thousand percent.” James took one of Harry’s hands and Sirius took the other. Sirius glanced back to where the handsome man and his son had been standing, but they’d already left, he could see the bloke striding away towards the back gate off the school, his son clinging to his side like a monkey. 

“What’d you think, Uncle Sirius?” Harry brought his attention back to him, Sirius liked the way Harry said his name, slow and carefully, making sure to catch all the sounds, he’d only just started saying it properly and was still very proud of himself; _Sir-i-us_. Before recently Harry had called him _Pads_ or _Padfoot_ , but had deemed it too ‘babyish’ of late.

“Better than the west end.” He replied, lifting his arm up in time with James so they could swing Harry back and forth between them as they walked back to the car. 

“Think Mummy’ll like it?” 

“Oh definitely, Kiddo.” James told him. 

“Maybe even more than we did.” Sirius agreed. 

Sirius woke up the next morning with a stiff knot in his neck and the smell of burnt coffee assaulting his nose. He lay on his back for a few moments, staring at the crack in the paint above his bed before rolling onto his side and eyeing the alarm clock on his bedside table. _9:13._

“Shit. shitting fuck.” He threw himself out of bed and stumbled his way across his bedroom, picking up a pair of black jeans off the floor as he went. He pulled them on before stepping out into the lounge/dining-room/storage area of his flat and then meandered through the stacks records he’d yet to riffle through for the shop. Once he’d cleared the assault course of his hoarding problem had created, he opened the door to the kitchen and took in the mess, the rest of the flat was lined with posters, records, cassettes, and ugly lamps but it wasn’t dirty; the kitchen however, was. The sink was full of unwashed pots, a line of dirty mugs trailed along the counter, and there was a spoon on the floor in front of the dishwasher. He sighed, picking up the spoon and dropping it into the sink, he then grabbed a mug from the counter and swilled out the tea dregs before filling it with water and downing it in one gulp. 

His socks caught on the floorboards as he walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth, grabbing a random t-shirt off the top of the clean washing pile on his way. In the bathroom he splashed water across his face, brushed his teeth a bit too aggressively and pulled his hair into a loose bun at the base of his head, pulling a few strands out to frame his face. He stepped back a few feet from the mirror when he was done to get a better view of himself, adjusting his washed out _The Stranglers_ t-shirt so it sat better around his neck before winking at himself and retreating out the bathroom, swiping his doc martens up off the floor in the hallway and swinging out the front door of the flat. He tugged his shoes on as he made his way down the single flight of stairs into the back of the café, stopping at the bottom to pull the laces slightly tighter before tucking them in. 

Marlene was stood in the pantry when he entered, sorting through a box of coffee syrups, she turned towards him when she heard him come in and wiped her fingers off on her apron (the box of syrups was, disgustingly enough, always sticky) before walking up to him and clipping him round the back of the head. 

“And what time do you call this?” She glowered at him, her cheeks were flushed red and her hair was already falling out the messy pile on top of her head. When he didn’t reply instantly she raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Woke up late.” He shrugged, “Sorry Marls.” 

“I went up and knocked twice, figured you weren’t there.” She’d gone back to sorting the syrups but looked over her shoulder to talk to him. “I opened, sorted pastries myself but that coffee machine just hates me.” She pulled a container of Vanilla out of the box and pushed passed him towards the front room of the shop. He followed her, grabbing his own apron off a hook and slinging it around his neck, tying it around his waist as he walked. 

The cafe/shop was decorated like an extension of Sirius’ flat. The walls were lined with band posters, signed and framed photos of late and great rockstars, guitars hanging on the walls, the tables and chairs didn’t match and a few of them creaked a little too loudly when customers sat down. One half of the space was a cafe, the other was a rather poorly organised second hand record store. Upon entering the shop front the smell of burnt coffee got twice as strong and he coughed a little bit before grimacing at Marlene, who was leaning against the counter, grimacing back. 

He gestured for her to move out of the way and slowly approached to the coffee machine, - which he had affectionately named _Walburga_ , after his equally temperamental and possibly evil mother - and started to detach parts of it, reattaching them again hoping to high hell that made a difference. Then he reached behind it and turned it off, counting to ten before turning it back on. The cafe opened most mornings at eight, and given that Marlene clearly hadn’t made a single cup of drinkable coffee before he arrived, he assumed they’d missed out on the entirety of the crowd of sixth form kids who usually showed up some time before nine to consume as much caffeine as possible. It wasn’t a huge problem, it was just one day, but he still felt guilty. Suddenly, and shocking him slightly, the coffee machine spurted to life. 

“Tadaa!” He yelled, opening his arms wide gesturing to the beast. 

“You’re a regular Doctor Frankenstein.” Marlene laughed, before going back to arranging pastries. 

“Um,” Sirius spoke again, just loud enough over _Paolo Nutini’s sunny side up_ to be heard, Marlene turned to face him again, “I’m sorry, about being late. Really. God knows I don’t pay you enough to fucking run the place.” 

Marlene’s face turned softer and she smiled at him and nodded, she understood why he’d overslept and didn’t want to make him feel bad. Her smile changed into a cheeky smirk, “Well then, you best give me a raise.” 

He laughed, and then grinned at her, “Mmmmm,” He started, pushing past her to get out from behind the counter and walked across to the record player, prying off the current record and swapping it for _Pulp: Different Class_ before swanning back over to her, “Soon as you get a decent taste in music.” 

She hit him with the dish towel that was over her shoulder. 

The rest of the morning went pretty well; Dorcas had clocked in around half eleven and was making scones in the back room, the coffee machine had yet to physically assault either him or Marlene, they’d made a handful of record sales and there was a steady stream of customers in the cafe. Sirius was leaning against the back door of the kitchen to smoke when Marlene appeared next to him, she flashed him a tight lipped smile before leaning her head on his shoulder, the bun prodded as his neck and he had to tilt his head slightly. After a minute she stepped back and he turned to face her.

“You wanna talk about it then?” She asked, calm. She was always pretty calm, her annoyance was always just a show, as was her anger, and Sirius didn’t think he’d ever seen her sad.

He took another drag on his cigarette and angled himself back to facing the alley, “Ye, suppose so.” He saw Marlene nod in his peripheral vision but she didn’t say anything else. “Rewatched all my rented movies last night.” She still didn't say anything, she just watched a little bird hop about on the fence opposite them. “Was already light by the time I went to sleep, I think.” 

They stood in silence for a few moments before she said, “It’s fine you know, I’d’ve done the same thing.” That made Sirius laugh. Marlene hadn’t missed a shift in the three years she’d worked here, she was basically superhuman.

“No, you wouldn’t have.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t have.” She turned to him and placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed slightly. “What’d you do after your great escape then?” 

His ‘great escape’ meaning when he’d practically been forced out of the shop by Dorcas and Marlene after he’d fallen asleep icing a cake and head butting the damn thing. 

Sirius shrugged, “Chilled upstairs for a bit.” he paused, “Went to Harry’s play.”

“Oh yeah, good?” She sounded genuinely interested. 

“Very. He was great. Raw talent.” He stated proudly, and took a heavy drag of his cigarette before dropping it on the ground and stamping it out with his shoe. They stood there in silence for a few seconds before he said, “I might’ve embarrassed myself a bit.”

Marlene raised her eyebrow at him, telling him to continue. 

“I made some stupid comment about one of the kids because he had blue hair,” Marlene gave him a gesture to carry on, “I was sat next to his dad.” She was openly just laughing at him now, clutching the door frame for support. 

“Ah well, not really a big deal.” She told him when she’d ceased making fun. He just nodded to her, not really feeling like explaining that while he knew it wasn’t a big deal, that didn’t mean he had stopped thinking about it for a single minute since it happened. He also hadn’t stopped thinking about the man's dimpled smile but he didn't really want to tell her that either. Instead, he put a hand on her back and guided her back into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. 

When they entered the shop front again he could hear _Wonderwall_ playing. Now, it was a well known fact that Sirius was a _Blur_ man, so Dorcas and Marlene didn't bat an eye when he walked up to the record player and snatched the needle off, before turning to the room. 

“Right.” He said loudly to get the attention of the mostly empty café, “Which one of you put this crap on, you’re officially banned.” He said it in a jokey tone, and the café was mostly occupied by regulars who didn’t even give it a second thought when they realised what he was on about. A red haired woman in the corner raised her hand, and then her eyebrow; Sirius looked at her and a huge smile took over his face. 

“Oh, Mrs. Potter. I should have known, hope you don't play this garbage around the little lad.” he turned around and set the record going again - from the start - and walked over to Lily, who was laughing into her cappuccino, “I’m not joking Lils, don’t want Harry growing up with an inferior music taste.” he told her sliding into the chair opposite her. 

She laughed at him, putting her cup down and reaching for his hand across the table, “If you say so.”

Sirius squeezed her hand in his, she’d only been away on business for a week but it’d felt like a lifetime. She was as much his sister as James was his brother; which is to say, not at all by blood, but completely and wholly in spirit. “How was Glasgow, Madam Bighshot?” 

She blushed a bit, dropping his hand so she could pick up her fork and make a start on the slice of carrot cake in front of her, “Good yeah,” she said before spooning a large piece into her mouth, her eyes widened a little bit and she spoke again before she’d finished chewing, “God, I swear this gets better and better.” Sirius just smiled at her while she finished the mouthful, “As much as I’d love to tell you the trials and tribulations of journalism, I actually just came to check you’ve remembered about the cake’s for the party on Saturday.” 

When Sirius’ expression changed completely she knew that meant he had forgotten, she sighed, placing her fork down and picking up her bowl-sized coffee again in both hands. She took a long sip before placing it down, “Right ok, I’ll just write it down again and you can still get it sorted, yeah?” 

Sirius, still looking confused, asked, “What party?”

That clearly had not been the right question, because Lily was now levelling him with her ‘mum-glare’, he tried his best sweet smile but her eyes just narrowed further, “The garden party I’ve been planning for weeks.” She said slowly.

“The garden party you’ve been planning for weeks…” Sirius repeated back to her. 

“For Harry’s class and their friends and family.” She told him, eyes narrowing even further. 

“Shit. yes, yes. I know, yeah.” He hadn’t known, but now he did and he didn’t want to drag this out.

“Do you need me to write the order down again?” She asked, back to smiling, ‘mum-glare’ completely gone. Sirius just nodded and she pulled a pen out of handbag and started writing on a napkin. Mid-way through she stopped and looked up at him, “Enjoy the play?” Sirius was about to say yes when he noticed the sly grin on her face. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He eyed her suspiciously. 

“Oh I don’t know,” She kept writing, stopped intermittently to look at him, “James just mentioned something.” 

Sirius leaned back in his seat, wincing a bit when it creaked aggressively, “Right, and what did James tell you?” 

“Nothing much, just that you tried desperately to convince a child you were cool after you insulted his dad’s parenting in front of him.” A big smile cracked across her face when Sirius spluttered a bit. 

“More observant than he lets on isn't he?” Lily didn’t respond, “Fine, ok. Yes, I made a twat of myself. Happy Now?” 

“Yes.” She answered, before sliding him the list of things she wanted baking and explaining each one, he nodded along. He went upstairs and brought her his play tickets for Friday and when she had finished her coffee and cake she stood up to hug him goodbye, and just as she was about to go she said, “Ok, thanks for everything. Oh, and try not to make a fool of yourself on Saturday?”

He nodded at her, and started clearing her table, waving at her as she passed through the front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, I'm already working on the second chapter, which is from Remus' prospective and we get a lot more Teddy and Remus being the worlds best family unit.
> 
> For the sake of making it clear, Teddy mentions his mum but she and Remus aren't together, that'll be cleared up in the next chapter. (and Tonks, as much as I love them, is not Teddy's mum.)
> 
> Anyways, ye, hope you liked it :)


	2. Work Trip in Cambodia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is a less than subtle nod to the Dead Kennedy's song "Holiday in Cambodia", but I'm still strangely proud of it. 
> 
> This chapter is all about Remus, Teddy and the other members of their family. I think Teddy Lupin's fashion sense is simultaneously the best and worst thing I've ever thought about. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy :)

Remus Lupin woke up with his head thrumming and a heavy weight on his chest. Upon opening his eyes and having to shut them again very quickly due to the brightness of the room he realised he’d not closed the curtains; when he made to move his arms to rub his face and couldn’t he realised that his son was asleep on his chest, and when sunk his head back into the pillow, he realised there was no pillow and that he was lay on the sofa. Remus sighed and turned his head to the side, willing his eyes open again he looked at the television which was making a high pitched whine sound as it idled after finishing the tape playthrough and not being turned off. They had fallen asleep watching _Blue Planet_ , again. He pried one of his arms out from under Teddy, steadying him as he pulled his other arm up; then, making sure not to wake him he picked him up and carried him through the flat to his bedroom, carefully putting him on his bed and tucking him in. Once he’d carefully backed out of Teddy’s room, Remus made his way back to the sitting room, turned the TV off and schlepped towards the kitchen. 

The Kitchen in the Lupin household was a point of pride, between Teddy’s artwork on the fridge, the gleaming countertops and the fresh cupcakes sitting in the breadbin it was basically the perfect display of domesticity. The rest of the flat was a different story, Remus’ books used to be ordered alphabetically on a set of neat shelves next to the TV, but then he ran out of room on the shelves, then he ran out of room for new book cases, and eventually the unorganised mass of books, (classic literature, original research projects, modern classics, romance books -though Remus would never admit to owning them - and Teddy’s picture books) was born. It wasn’t exactly dirty, the carpet (the bits of it you could actually see) was hoovered regularly, the windows were cleaned, and the mountains of books dusted. On top of it all was a rather large collection of trinkets; ceramic frogs, sand filled lizards, wooden cow statues, diwali candles, clay fruits and all sorts of other rubbish. It was nice though, homey. 

Remus had made himself a cup of tea and slice of toast and was leaning against the counter listening to the radio when Teddy wandered into the room rubbing his eyes. He walked over to Remus, placed both of his little feet on top of one of his dads and wrapped his arms around his waist, tucking his face against his hip. Remus smiled, putting his mug down to place his hand on top of Teddy’s head, stroking his fringe back from his face. 

“Good Morning.” He said, moving his hand further back and starting to untangle some knots in the boys hair. Teddy made an unintelligible sound in response, then tightened his arms around his dad. “Do you want breakfast?” Remus asked him, after finishing the last bite of his own toast and wiping the crumbs of his fingers onto his jumper. Teddy made another noise into Remus’ hip, and Remus picked his lukewarm tea off the counter and held it down, tapping it against Teddy’s arm. Teddy moved his face back so he could see what it was, then stepped back from Remus completely and took the mug carefully in both hands before taking a sip. 

“Coco Pops, please.” He pushed the mug onto the counter and then raised his hands in the air either side, making grabby hands. Remus, having done this routine countless times, put his hands under Teddy’s armpits and lifted him so he sat on the worktop (next to the sink, pushed back so the backs of his claves pressed against the cupboards) and passed him the mug back. Then he crossed the kitchen, pulled out a plastic bowl with a faded picture of Princess Tiana on and filled it with Coco Pops. 

“D’ya want milk?” He looked at Teddy, “You’ll have to get down if you want milk.” Teddy shook his head, and went back to sipping the tea, Remus picked up the bowl of dry cereal and walked over, holding out his empty hand to take the tea and then passing Teddy the bowl. Teddy then proceeded to eat the little chocolate rice puffs with his hands, as Remus drained the dregs of the mug. When he was done with his breakfast Remus lifted Teddy off the counter and set him down, telling him to go get dressed. 

About fifteen minutes later Remus, who had showered and got changed, was sitting on the sofa reading _Anna Karenina_ in original Russian. Or at least, he was attempting it. Teddy barrelled into the lounge, running straight at Remus and diving into his lap. Remus folded the page of his book and placed it down next to him, then gave Teddy his _I’ve told you not to do that_ look. Teddy just smiled up at him and gestured to himself, grinning wide. 

“Got dressed!” He announced proudly. 

“I can see that.” Remus told him. It was Saturday, and they didn’t have plans this morning so it didn’t matter what Teddy wore, clearly Teddy knew this because his outfit of choice was a pink princess dress from the Disney store with a knit cardigan over the top and bright yellow bumble-bee themed wellies, Remus was pretty sure he still had his pyjamas on underneath. Teddy just smiled wider and then leaned forward so his chin was on Remus’s chest and he was looking up at his face.

“Can we go to the park?” Remus raised an eyebrow at him, _“Pleeasseeeeeee.”_ The way he said please was probably the most ‘baby-talk’ thing he did, sounding it with a ‘w’ instead of an ‘l’ and dragging it out; it’s not actually how he spoke normally, it’s how he spoke when he wanted something and was worried he’d get told No. 

He sighed, “Well,” breaking out into a smile, “If you insist.” He grabbed Teddy and started tickling down his sides, making him shake with laughter and slap at Remus’ arms and chest. He then lifted Teddy off him, placed him down on the sofa and got up to find his shoes, before coming down and sitting next to him again to pull them on. He checked the clock above the fireplace and said, “We can’t go for too long, yeah? Remember we’ve got plans for later?” 

Teddy nodded vigorously, “Yup. We’re going to a party. And Mummy’s going to come too. And Alex.” Teddy had been excited for the Potters garden party since they’d been invited, and then doubly so when his mum and her partner had mentioned they’d be back in the country by then and would be able to make it. 

“Exactly.” Said Remus, slapping his thighs and standing up, pulling on his worn corduroy jacket and passing Teddy a bright orange rain coat with a fire-man sam decal on the back. Teddy shrugged the coat on and Remus bent down to straighten it out for him. “You don’t need anything before we go?” He checked, Teddy shook his head, “Because I’m not harassing the nice man at the pub to let you use the toilet again.” Teddy just blinked at him, so Remus grabbed his phone, wallet and keys and offered Teddy his hand. 

They traipsed through the building hand in hand and when they reached the door onto the street and stepped outside Remus realised that they probably didn’t need the coats, the sun was in the sky and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight; it wasn’t hot yet, but it probably would be later. Before Remus had further opportunity to consider the weather Teddy was dragging him down the road in the direction of the park. Once they got within fifty yards of the collection of swings, round-abouts and climbing frames, Teddy let go of Remus’ hand and looked back at his face, Remus then nodded and Teddy nodded back before taking off into a run towards the slides. Remus ambled down the path, watching his son go from boy-shaped to a multi-coloured blob in the distance climbing a slide. When he reached the park he walked to a wooden bench and sat down, making sure he had a good view of everything going on, and that Teddy could see him before relaxing into his seat. 

The park wasn’t very busy: there were two other children there, both slightly older than Teddy playing on the see-saw together, but the boy didn’t seem to mind playing alone as he climbed up the slide in what must’ve been the fiftieth time. The proficiency with which Teddy entertained himself sometimes worried Remus, he didn’t often mention other boys from school and only seemed to play with other children when they asked him explicitly to join them. He always played with Neville, their neighbour's child, but that wasn’t the same; Teddy and Neville’s idea of games was doing their own thing but sat with each other. One of the teachers at Teddy’s nursery school had said she worried he was developing poor social skills, but Remus wasn’t quite sure he believed that given how well he interacted with adults and family friends. Remus smiled as he watched him play, running around in circles, throwing the skirts of his dress around and jumping in patterns; whether or not he was the socialite for the ages, he was clearly very uninhibited when it comes to having fun. After a long while he had clearly exhausted the wealth off his fairy dancing -as he called it- because he approached Remus with his best _“Pleasseeeee”_ and asked him to push him on the swing. Remus agreed, a little reluctantly, and followed Teddy over to the concerningly rusty swing set. 

“You ready?” He asked, positioning himself behind the swing. 

“Yup” Teddy nodded. 

“Ok, three,” Remus pulled the swing back slightly, “Two,” a bit more, “One.” He let go and the swing made a loud squeaking noise before careening forwards. Pushing it forward again when it came back to him, he watched as Teddy shrieked gleefully when he went a bit higher than before and laughed at the way he’d kick his legs out to make him go faster, pink Aurora skirts billowing out as he did so. After about ten minutes Remus caught the swing and said, “Ok, Sprout, my arms are getting tired. You’ll have to do something else.” He looked and felt a bit guilty when he said that, but Teddy just smiled at him in an understanding way.

“Ok, Dad.” Teddy replied, hopping off the swing and running back towards the slide. Remus wandered back to the bench and sat down again, it was certainly a bit warmer now, he pushed the sleeves of his jacket up to his elbows and watched as Teddy ran in circles like some kind of demented spinning top. Ten minutes later again, he felt his phone start to ring in his pocket, he pulled it out and answered it without checking the caller. 

“Remus Lupin.” He answered. 

“Yeah, I’m aware.” It was Juliette, but Remus had guessed that, he didn’t really get a lot of phone calls. “We’re at your flat.” 

“Right.” Remus said, “Me and Teddy are at the park. Let yourself in and we’ll set off back now?”

“Yeah. Ok, see ya in a bit.” She had the same northern accent Remus had, but she didn’t much care for beating the slang out of her speech like he had. Remus had always found that strange given she was also an English teacher; maybe it was different because she was teaching English as a second language and not as a way to dissect books, or maybe she was just proud of the fact she grew up in a shitty town in Greater Manchester. 

“Bye.” he hung up the phone and shouted Teddy back over. “Your mum just called, she’s waiting for us at home.”

“Ok.” Teddy said, grabbing Remus’ hand to drag him back home, “Alex there too?” 

“I’d assume so.” 

“Did they get me presents? Mummy said she got me a t-shirt.” He gushed, Remus had told Teddy to stop assuming that he’d receive presents whenever he saw his mum and Alex, he’d also told him to stop asking about presents from his mum and Alex. Teddy of course never listened, not that it mattered much, Juliette always brought him presents and so did Alex. They both had a penchant for spoiling him rotten. (Juliette often finished an elaborate gift giving session with the phrase “No ethical consumption under capitalism.” and wink.)

Remus sighed, allowing himself to be pulled down the road, “Probably.”

“Can I wear my new t-shirt to the party today?” He looked at Remus with big eyes, he had his dad’s eyes, light brown with flecks of gold and slightly too big for his face, _“Pleassseee.”_

“That… depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether it’s ridiculous.” Teddy laughed at that, his dad called a lot of his gifts from his mother _ridiculous_ but he allowed him to wear all the clothes anyways, and placed all the strange trinkets in very prominent positions of the mantle piece, regardless of their ridiculousness. When their building came into sight Teddy started dragging Remus harder, excited to see his mum and Alex, despite the fact he’d seen them both the night before when they’d attended the final showing of his school play. 

Once inside their building, Teddy let go of Remus’ hand and took off towards the stairs. He was allowed to do that, ‘hold hands outside, always ask before you run off’ was their rule, but now they were home and he was practically sprinting his way up the stairs. Remus, with his long strides, kept up quite easily and they reached the door at the same time. He pulled the key from his pocket and unlocked it, Teddy practically shivering with anticipation next to him. 

He pushed it open and Teddy shot past him into the lounge to dive at Juliette who appeared to have been sitting on the couch but was now a blur of pink hair and black jeans being wrestled to the floor. Teddy was shouting something mostly unintelligible, and she laughed and tickled him until he shrieked. Remus watched for a moment before turning to Alex, who was sat on the sofa daintily clutching a mug. He smiled at them, they smiled back. 

“Tea?” They asked him, “I just boiled the kettle so you might as well get one now.” They stood up and Remus followed them to the kitchen. Remus had never told Alex this, for fear of it sounding a bit weird, but he loved their voice; they were from Scotland, but their voice was smooth and calm and he liked the way it extended vowels and curled around constants. They got a mug out of the cupboard and set it on the counter, plucking out a tea bag and filling it up before stepping away to leave it to steap. 

“Nice pants.” Remus said. Alex was wearing the most obnoxious pair of rainbow thai pants he’d ever seen, tight at their waist and ankles and then wide enough for two people to get in for the rest of the leg, patterned with elephants, paisley and god knows what else. 

They cracked a laugh, “You too.” They told him, nodding to his worn out straight leg jeans that are working their way into holes at the knee. He smiled. Alex was clearly ready for the party, neat winged eyeliner, chestnut curls piled into a neat bun on top of their head with the perfectly formed ones pulled out, they’d paired the offending trousers with a tasselled cardigan (likely made by a monk or a homeless woman or some shite) and a plain white tank top. They looked pretty, they always looked pretty. Remus remembered a few years ago when he’d asked them to do eyeliner on him for Frank’s stag do, he also remembers all the people that flirted with him and made him rather uncomfortable. They’d gone back to making the tea, adding a spoonful of sugar before turning around to pass it Remus. 

“How’d you like Cambodia then?” He asked, raising an eyebrow over his tea. 

“Good, yeah. Spent most of my time teaching locals how to fix gen-ys, but most of them already knew everything I had to offer.” They stopped talking to sip their tea, “Jules liked it though, reckons we’ll go back.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Mmm” They affirmed. Before they could elaborate further Juliette and Teddy burst through the door, smiled and shoving at each other. Remus always thought Teddy was more like her than him, especially when he was in a more boisterous mood. 

“Dad, dad. Look, look what Mummy bought me.” Teddy commanded, holding up a _green save the earth_ t-shirt, he flipped it round to show Remus the back, it had a big pink peace sign on the back. Remus smiled, _yeah,_ he thought, _you can wear that to the party._ “It’s good right?” 

“Yeah it is.” Remus said, patting Teddy’s head. He’d shed the coat and cardigan and it was now very clear that he did indeed have his pyjamas on underneath the dress. Remus looked towards Jules who was lounging in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, her bubblegum pink hair was messed up slightly but she was trying to pat it down. He nodded in her direction, “Hope you said thank you.” 

“He did.” 

“I did.” 

They spoke at the same time, all four of them laughed. 

“So,” Teddy started, “Can I wear it to the party?” 

“Yeah, yeah. Of course you can.” Remus told him. Teddy jumped up and down clutching the t-shirt. “Actually,” Remus said, glancing at the clock on the front of the oven, “You should probably start getting ready.”

Teddy nodded, crossing the room and grabbing Alex’s hand, “Come on Lex, you can help me get ready.” Alex chuckled to themselves, tipped back the dregs of their tea and saluted at Teddy before leading him out the kitchen. 

Remus looked back at Jules, then realised what she was wearing, “Of course.” he laughed, gesturing to her _Feed Your Lawn & Starve the Poor_ t-shirt. 

She laughed, it was musical, like Teddy’s but where his ended in a little snort she stopped gracefully, “I was going to get him a matching one. Alex convinced me not too.” 

Remus raised his mug in a joke toast, “Thank god for Alex.” He said, Jules nodded at him. 

“Hear, Hear.” She echoed. 

“How was Cambodia?” 

He saw her smile get wider at that, and her eyes light up, “God Rem, it was great. The kids, they were wonderful. They loved school, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The landscape too, it was like being in the garden of bloody Eden.” 

“Alex says you might go back?” 

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it. They’re not too sure, wanted to try Vietnam next. Or maybe India.” 

Remus nodded, “Sounds good. Teddy loves the pictures,” he gestured to the fridge where all the postcards had been stuck up, “The buddha one best though.” 

“Obviously,” She laughed, “Kids got zen.” 

Remus almost snorted tea out of his nose, “Yeah and I’m the damn king of Wales.” He smiled at her, placed his mug down and gestured towards the door, “I’m gonna get changed. Back in a min.” 

He went into his bedroom and picked out a forest green short sleeve henley t-shirt and changed into it instead of his knit jumper. He smoothed it out in front of his mirror and then patted at the waves in his hair a bit, and went back to the wardrobe, pulling out a brown, green and navy plaid shirt and shrugging it on over the shirt, leaving it open and then checking himself over once in the mirror made his way back out. He found the rest of the ‘the gang’ stood in the living room, Teddy had gotten changed, for better or worse was yet to be determined. Alex had dressed him in the new t-shirt, with a pair of multi-coloured, multi-textured dungarees on top and his plain black kiddie doc’s. Remus approached and cleared his throat, snapping them out of their conversation, which from what he caught was Jules gushing over the play and Alex agreeing. 

Teddy rushed towards him and grabbed his hand, “Daddy, look what Alex got me.” He said, gesturing to the overalls, “They’re proper cool!” He said ‘proper’ like Remus said ‘proper’; meaning too often, and pronouncing it ‘prop-uh’. The dungarees were, to be fair, one of the less egregious items of clothing Alex had purchased for Teddy. 

“Fab.” He concurred. Alex and Juliette stood at the door, hand in hand; sometimes Remus looked at them like that and wondered what life would’ve been like if he and Juliette had been the ones that went to the Travel the world, and Teddy hadn’t been born. But then he remembered - not that he could really forget - that he loved Teddy with all his heart, and that he was the best thing that happened to him. (Not to mention he hated travelling abroad.) Jules and Alex loved Teddy too, Teddy knew that, Remus knew that; but he didn’t think it was the all consuming love he had, or maybe it was and when they went abroad they missed Teddy as much as Remus would, and that they just loved their work and travel enough for them to be able to bare it. He didn’t think about that much anymore, he’d found contentment some years ago from his quaint little life and decided he wouldn’t change it for the world. 

“We off-skees then?” Alex asked. Remus nodded and squeezed Teddy’s hand, Teddy squeezed back. 

“Hey, ho.” Jules shouted rhythmically to Teddy. 

“Lets go!” He shouted back, and _go_ they did. 

They arrived at the Potter’s house about forty minutes after the party was supposed to have started, Jules called it _fashionably late_ , Remus just called it _late_. After checking, and double checking the address on the invite Remus knocked on the door, and then waited. And waited some more. Teddy shook impatiently and Alex was trying to tell him something about one of the types of flower in the garden; Jules tapped her foot on the gravel and counted for about twenty seconds before stepping past Remus and knocking - banging relentlessly - on the door. Remus shot her a disapproving look but the door swung open before he could actually say anything.

The door opened to reveal a decently tan, decently tall, more than decent looking guy; he smiled at the group, then extra-wide when he saw Teddy, “Hey, it’s the little punk.” He said, moving to the side allowing the group to enter.

“Nice shirt,” Jules said, passing him and going into the hallway, gesturing to his _The Clash_ t-shirt. 

“Thanks.” He replied, “Yours too, lawn culture sucks.” Turning around to look back at the three members of the group that had yet to go in, Remus recognised him then. It was the guy from the play, the one that’d accused him of poor parenting, then apologised profusely and made Teddy laugh so hard he nearly wet himself. He looked different now, hair down to his shoulders instead of in a bun, tight t shirt, skinny jeans and boots; he didn’t just look different he looked _hot_. Remus groaned internally, he’d only managed to get the guy out of his head on the premise that he’d never see him again, and here he was; answering doors, smiling at his son and making passing comments about suburban capitalism. Alex stepped forwards next, holding their hand out to introduce themselves, and doing what Remus knew was their, _Hello Sailor_ smile. 

“Alex,” They said, as the man in the doorway took their hand, “That’s Jules.” She gestured to Jules who offered a small salute. 

The man nodded, “Sirius,” he shook their hand and then let go, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” In response Alex let out a sound awfully like a giggle, which Remus was sure he’d misheard because he’d known them for four years and they didn’t _giggle_. They flirted relentlessly with anyone who they found moderately attractive, but they never seemed to get remotely flustered enough to giggle, and all this bloke had done was smile. To be fair to them, he did look like some kind of bronzed god. 

“You too,” they agreed before stepping over to Jules, and grabbing her hand. The man - Sirius - back to Teddy and Remus who were still standing on the doorstep. 

“And you are?” He asked, looking at Teddy.

Teddy puffed out his chest and looked the man straight in the eye, “Edward Remus Lupin.” He said proudly, “And you’re the man from the play that Dad said was a proper addernus.” 

The man looked confused for a moment before; 

“Adonis, sweetie.” 

“Adonis.” Jules and Alex corrected at the same time. Remus didn’t say anything, Remus was hoping the ground would give out and swallow him whole. 

“Oh.” Said Sirius. 

“You’re supposed to say nice to meet me now, I've told you my name.” Teddy interrupted. Remus would’ve reprimanded him if he wasn’t preoccupied trying to think himself out of existence, Alex was too busy chuckling at Remus’ embarrassment and Jules was too dedicated to being the favourite parent to scold Teddy. 

“Nice to meet you Edward Remus Lupin.” He offered. “What about your dad?” he turned to Remus, smirking a little. 

Remus still feeling a bit flustered immediately went, “Dad” Then shook his head, blushing brighter than tomato red, took a deep breath and held out his hand, “Sorry. Remus.” _Kill me now, Kill me now, kill me now_. He wondered briefly if his embarrassment is karma’s response to Sirius making a fool out of himself at the play. 

“Nice to meet you Remus.” He took Remus’ hand and shook it, he had a good grip and slightly calloused hands. Remus wondered what he did for a living, judging by the size of his arms, manual labour. “Just follow me through to the garden.” he told them, before slipping down the corridor, turning over his shoulder to check they were following. He led them through an open plan living room and kitchen, to a set of patio doors and then out into the garden. 

The potters garden was long and thin, along the left side was a table of food and a barbecue, that was being tended to by a man Remus vaguely recognised as one of the dads he’d seen at school and blatantly assumed it was mister Potter seeing as he had only properly met Lily and her son before. Towards the far end of the garden there was a bright yellow bouncy castle which was practically teeming with children, and the rest of the lawn was littered with deck chairs and people sat on the floor or standing in groups. Music drifted around, Remus smiled a little when he realised it was _Billy Joel’s Zanzibar._

“Right,” Sirius said, gesturing to the garden, “We’ve got food over there - help yourself of course - bouncy castle for the littluns, coolers in the corner over there if you fancy a drink, and well other than that, you’ll have to find it yourself.” He pointed in certain directions as he talked, and Remus, Alex and Jules nodded along. Teddy hadn’t done much other than shake since he’d locked eyes on the bouncy castle. 

“Mummy,” He tugged at Juliette’s top, “Can I go on the bouncy castle?” 

She smiled at him, and grabbed his hand that was pulling her t-shirt into her own hand, “Of course you can, trouble.” She looked very serious for a moment before bending down, picking him up over her shoulder and marching down the garden with him shrieking, giggling and slapping at her back. 

Sirius was still standing with them and looked between Alex and Remus like he was trying to work out some complicated maths problem, they both knew what he was thinking, ‘who is Alex?’. Alex, the benevolent God that they were, typically explained they were Jules’ partner when they saw someone dealing with this particular brand of confusion; strangely enough, they stayed perfectly quiet this time. Remus wasn’t sure if it was because they were uncomfortable playing the _lesbian relationship_ card in a garden full of middle class primary school parents, or if they’d just turned a new leaf and delighted in other peoples confusion; but he decided not to comment. 

“Do you want a beer?” Sirius asked them both, clapping and rubbing his hands together.

“Yeah, please.” Remus nodded. Sirius turned towards Alex. 

“I’m alright, maybe a lemonade if you point me in the right direction?” They smiled. 

Sirius nodded, “Yeah sure, just that table over there.” he pointed and Alex thanked him before walking off. “Beers this way.” He told Remus, before guiding him towards the cooler. 

Remus, who had now fortunately regained his sanity and therefore his sense of humour said, “Did you steal that t-shirt from an emo teenager so you could impress my son?” 

Sirius barked out a laugh, Remus thought he had a nice laugh, he’d actually spent most of his Wednesday night thinking that he had a nice laugh. “No.” Sirius said, “I have had it since I was a moody teenager though, funnily enough.” 

“Of course,” Remus picked a Budweiser out from the cooler and cracked the top off on the bottle opener on the wall, “Silly me.” 

“Mmm,” Sirius started, opening his own beer, “I am sorry about the other day by the way, in case I didn’t get it across enough.” He took a sip from the bottle, then smiled at Remus, “I didn’t think before I spoke, it was out of order. I’m sure you’re a great and very competent parent. As is your wife.” 

Remus laughed then, he knew what this was, not that it was hard to understand; it was hardly subtle. “Like I said, it’s fine. Honestly. And Jules isn’t my wife, but you knew that.” He smirked then took a sip of beer, “Neither is Alex, for the record, and I doubt they’ll appreciate the insinuation.” Remus realised, thinking back on this later, that Alex hadn't said anything so Sirius would have to ask Remus himself.

Sirius smiled a little bit, taking a large swig off his beer before talking, “Shit. I thought I was more subtle than that.” 

“Nope.” Remus chuckled, “What’s your story then? Where’s your second wife and seven children?” 

“Did you just call me Captain Von Trapp?” He laughed.

“Possibly.” 

“I’m Harry’s Uncle,” He drained another solid portion of the beer, “Harry Potter that is, I’ve recently been informed there’s two Harry’s in the class.” 

“Harry Michaels is the other one I think,” Remus rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to remember the names from the pantomime brochure that he’d read through all of once, “Harry Michaels, definitely.” 

“Mmm,” Sirius finished off the rest of his beer and reached for another one, cracking it open and turning back to Remus, “Want a burger? James is making them so I will advise caution, but they’re supposed to be good.” 

“Sure.” He looked around the rest of the garden and noticed Alex was stood with a group of women Remus could only describe as ‘yummy mummys’ gesturing widely and probably talking about yoga, and Jules was wrestling a child he didn’t recognise before proceeding to lift them into the air and quite literally throw them onto the bouncy castle. 

Sirius led Remus across the garden to the barbecue and smacked the tall Indian looking man in wonky glasses wearing a _kiss the chef_ apron on the shoulder, “James,” he addressed the man, “This is Remus. Remus,” he turned to look at Remus and then gestured to James, “This is James.” 

“James Potter,” He said, holding out the hand that wasn’t holding a spatula, “Nice to meet you.” 

Remus shook it, “Likewise.” 

A strange grin flashed across James’ face and Remus was pretty sure he caught him wink at Sirius who smacked him lightly in response. 

“Burger?” He asked. 

“Please.” 

Armed with burgers and an assortment of condiments Sirius and Remus made there way to one of the circles of deckchairs that had been set up thought out the lawn, after he’d caught a rather desperate look from Alex while they were waiting for James to fry his and Sirius’ food Remus had said he should probably go and rescue them, and Sirius had nodded and followed him. Sitting down on a plastic lawn chair next to them, Remus offered Alex a small smile; they smiled back looking grateful. It turns out the ‘yummy mummies’ had moved on from whatever their conversation had started with - knowing Alex, it was either finding your zen or helping eradicate preventable disease in developing nations - and they were now discussing travel destinations. 

“Well obviously Paris was nice,” a woman with a blonde bob began, “but everyone does Paris for anniversaries. I just wanted to try something different.”

A second woman with slighter longer and slightly blonder hair nodded, “We did Budapest for our ten year anniversary. It was very nice, possibly better than Paris.”

“Exactly,” the first woman agreed, “I just want something exotic.” 

For some reason at the word ‘exotic’ half the group turned in Remus’ direction, he was about to force down his mouthful of burger to explain the furthest away he’s ever been was Wales but quickly realised they were looking at Alex. 

“Alex, was it?” The blonder woman asked, in a strangely aggressive tone, Alex nodded, “Have you been anywhere romantic for an anniversary.”

Remus watched and swore he could see the cogs turning in their head, “My partner isn’t exactly the romantic type,” They shifted a little bit in their seat, where they were sat with their legs crossed at an angle Remus wasn’t sure he was physically capable of, “We do travel a lot, like I said before, but not for, like, holidays.” 

“Oh, I thought you just got back from Cambodia?” A different woman interrupted, the same slight sneer present in her voice too.

“Work trip.” Alex supplied, offering a tight lipped smile. Remus recognised it now properly, they were uncomfortable with the group, or the line of questions. Alex shifted in the chair again and it made a strained cracking sound. 

“You know what I think was really romantic?” Sirius interrupted, loudly. “One of my employees and her partner went on a three day hike through Northumbria for their anniversary.” The women all jumped at the chance to explain how that _really wasn’t for them_ and all the attention was very quickly off Alex, who was now looking gratefully at Sirius. 

After a few minutes of rather dry conversation about how pampered these middle class women need to be on their special occasions, Sirius turned to Remus, leaned over and said quietly near his ear, “Common, let’s go talk to someone with a personality.” 

Getting up quietly and slipping away from the group of women, Remus, Sirius and Alex made their way back to the barbecue where James was talking loudly and waving his spatula with a group of people; Remus noticed Jules was standing with them. They entered the standing half circle of people chatting and Alex carefully took Juliette’s hand when they got close enough. 

“I just don’t think you’re right, Pete.” James was saying to a short straw haired man, “Like yeah, I get where you’re coming from. But, I can’t go against my principles like that.”

“Your principles?” The man - Pete - replied, “James, you don’t have principles.” He paused for a minute and James opened his mouth as if to say something else but Pete continued, “It’s also hardly a damn moral issue.”

“Everything's a moral issue if you make it one.” An even shorter girl with dark brown hair and freckles said. 

“Exactly,” James concurred, “Thank you, Dorcas. Now, Peter, I’d like to conclude this debate with an appeal to your cold dead banker heart.” He cleared his throat and held the spachelor up like a microphone, “Bucky Barnes was conscripted and he lied to Steve, because he loved him! He didn’t want the literal love of his life to think he was being sent to war against his will. Which I think you’ll find is fucking _tragic_ , then, when they where reunited Steve risks his life countless times for Bucky. It’s a modern bloody romance!” When he finished he swung his hands for emphasis and very nearly smacked Lily - who stood to his left - in the stomach. 

Pete, looking yet to be convinced, said “Yes, but then he went back to Peggy.”

James sighed, but before he could launch into another rant Sirius coughed to get the group's attention. 

“Guys, this is Remus,” He gestured to him and he nodded, “And this is Alex.” They held up their free hand to do an awkward wave. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Peter,” He held up his beer and gestured to the woman next to him, “This is my girlfriend, Mary.” Mary smiled at Alex and then to Remus, she was gorgeous; dark skin, perfect curls, tall and slim. She was the type of girl he’d have chased after before he realised he didn’t really want to chase anyone (especially girls). 

“Dorcas.” The short brunette introduced herself, then tipped her head to side slightly as if in thought, “Do I maybe know you from somewhere?” She asked Remus. 

“It’s entirely possible.” Remus shrugged, he had one of those faces where people often thought they knew him when they didn’t. 

Dorcas nodded, and then her smile dropped entirely and her eyes went a little bit wide, “Holy shit -” she slapped a palm over her mouth, before moving it as if in realisation she didn’t need to not swear, “You’re Mr. Lupin, right?”

“Ah,” Remus realised where this was going, “That I am.”

“I was in my last year when you started, but I remember my friends gushing over how fit you are.” She laughed a little bit, realising what she’d said. 

Remus blushed, “Oh.” 

“Care to enlighten the group, Miss Meadows?” Sirius butted in. 

Dorcas opened her mouth to talk but Remus beat her to it, “I’m a teacher at Godric’s Hollow Secondary and Sixth,” he cracked a wonky smile before continuing, “Apparently I was quite the heart throb in the eyes of a group of year thirteens.” 

“Oh yeah?” Sirius said. 

“What do you teach?” asked James. 

“English.” 

“You like it?” 

“S’alright.” He took a sip of the beer that was beginning to get too warm to drink in his hand. “I enjoy it.” 

“What’s your favourite thing to teach?” Sirius turned to him. 

“Um,” Remus clicked his tongue as he thought, “Power and conflict poetry, I reckon.” 

“That’s like, Simon Armitage and Wilfred Owen right?” 

Remus nodded, the rest of the group seemed to have broken off into their own little conversations, he leaned back and turned to look down the garden scanning for Teddy. He smiled wide when he saw Teddy running around shrubbery in circles gesturing with finger guns at Harry - Harry Potter not Harry Michaels - who was pretending to take hits from the fake weapons and giggling as he chased after Teddy. They both looked a bit dishevelled, Harry's button up shirt was covered in green striped grass stains and one of the legs of Teddy's overalls was pushed up above his knee, with the opposite sides dungaree strap hanging down below his shoulder. Sirius seemed to realise what Remus was looking for and cracked a cheeky grin when he saw the little boys playing. 

“Wait here,” he said, putting his hand on Remus’ shoulder, “I’ve got an idea.” He put his drink down on the table next to the barbecue and turned round to face Remus briefly before walking down the garden towards Teddy and Harry.

“Hey!” Remus shouted to him, “What are you doing?” 

Sirius spun round and faced him, walking backwards for a few steps, “You’ll see.” he tipped his head left then right, “I don’t think you’ll like it.” 

“Wha-“ Remus started but didn’t finish the word because he was too busy trying not to swallow his tongue when Sirius _winked_ at him before turning around and striding down the garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyy, thanks for reading. 
> 
> The next chapter will be from Sirius' perspective again and we will get to see what his evil scheme is - water pistols, its water pistols - and then some other fun stuff. 
> 
> I also wanna add that the random women being rude to Alex weren't being homophobic, it's classism, -which is also gross and wrong- but that'll be clearer/ explained in the next chapter. (don't worry its nothing heavy *thumbs up*) and we get the start of Alex and Sirius' super cool super fun super gay friendship. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed it :)
> 
> p.s thank you very much to everyone who gave me kudos!!


	3. The names Potter, James Potter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't think of a song title for this chapter, (clearly I'm off my game) so we have James Bond instead. 
> 
> You may notice I've changed the title if you've read previous chapters, and I did that because I actually finished planning the whole plot and this fits much better (in an abstract kinda way); it's also a song reference to _shampoo bottles_ by _Peach Pit_ however the song is about a break up and not really plot relevant, though it does absolutely slap and you should listen to it. 
> 
> CW REFERANCES (briefly) ALCHOLISM AND CHILD ABUSE. if you wanna skip it its in the few paragraphs when Sirius is thinking about his dad. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter.

Sirius rubbed his hands together as he marched down the garden towards Harry and the blue haired boy, he prided himself on being _the fun adult_ and was always glad of an opportunity to create chaos in the name of children's enjoyment. As he got closer he could hear them yelling, shrieking and making ‘pew pew’ sounds in time with their finger gun shooting. 

“Prongs Junior,” He called to get Harry’s attention, “Edward.” He said to the other boy. They stopped running and turned to look at him. 

The little punk pulled a face, “It’s Teddy.” He told Sirius, “Granny Hope says Edward is my Sunday name.” He then pulled a frown and his eyebrows drew together, “Why would I need a different name for Sunday?” he looked like he was realising something for the first time and Sirius decided he didn’t really want to get onto the topic of religion with other people's kids, he’d learnt earlier on that year that just because children attended a Christian school didn’t necessarily mean they were Christians. (Admittedly he should’ve known that before making a crucifixion joke to Mrs. Pince and her son, given that Harry and his parents were not Christian and he went to that school.) 

“Not sure kid… I have a different name for Wednesday’s.” He joked. 

“No you don’t.” Teddy accused. Sirius raised an eyebrow in response and the little boy continued, “Go on then, what is it?” He seemed to puff his chest out when he said that, trying to make himself bigger and more threatening - Sirius thought it was quite cute.

“John.” Sirius deadpanned. Teddy burst into a fit of giggles, Harry looked confused. 

“Your name isn’t John,” Harry said, sounding a little perplexed, “S’Padfoot.” 

“Padfoot? That’s a silly name.”

“No it’s not.” Sirius defended, Teddy stuck his tongue out in response. Sirius chuckled, “Ok, well now I’ve been thoroughly insulted; I was wondering if you little monsters wanted to add some bite to your bark?”

“I’m not barking.” Harry spoke, at the same time Teddy said: “What?” 

Sirius sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, “Water pistols. I was thinking you could have a water fight instead of this hand-gun nonsense.” 

Harry ran up to him, grabbing his hand that was hanging at his side started tugging on it and jumping up and down, “Pleassssseeeee, Uncle Sirius. Please Padfoot. It’d be so fun!” He rambled. Sirius nodded at him before turning to Teddy and raising an eyebrow at him. 

“I’ve never had a water fight before.” He said quietly. 

“That a no?” Sirius asked. 

“NO!” Teddy answered very quickly, “I wanna.” 

“Good men.” Sirius took his hand out of Harry’s and placed it on his head and ruffled his messy tufts of hair, before slipping it down to his shoulder and squatting down to be at eye level with the children and beckoning Teddy closer, “Right, so here’s the plan. I’ll go and get the water guns and I need you two to round up all the other kids and get them to wait for me near the hose-pipe for the shed. Yeah?” Harry nodded, Sirius continued, “Ok, this bit is important, you need to make sure nobody's Mummies or Daddies find out till I’m back. Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Harry replied quickly, Sirius looked to Teddy who nodded. 

“Pinky promise?” Sirius asked, offering up both hands with his little finger sticking up. Harry and Teddy took hold of his finger with their considerably smaller ones and whispered _‘Pinky promise.’_ in unison. “Ok lads, onwards.” He announced, before standing up, patting Harry on the head and smiling at Teddy, turning around and heading back up the garden. 

When he passed Remus on his way into the house he caught the strange look on his face and couldn’t help the smile that worked its way onto his own. He looked caught somewhere between _shocked from being winked at_ and _incredibly suspicious_ , which Sirius found suited him greatly and was very endearing. He had to tear his eyes away from Remus as he passed him, but he did grant himself a cheeky glance over his shoulder when he reached the kitchen doors. (Mostly to check he wasn’t being followed. He was.) 

Sirius carried on into the kitchen and leaned back against the island waiting for Alex to catch up. 

“Hi,” They greeted, a little awkwardly. 

“Hi.” Sirius said back.

Alex moved and leaned against the counter opposite the island, “I just wanted to say thank you for rescuing me from Richie Rich’s second wife and Ms. Range Rover.” 

He chuckled, “Oh yeah, no problem. I’ve been dealing with people like that my whole life, you admit you don’t have a second home in Italy and then they turn their nose up and act like you just told them you eat your own shit.” Sirius liked making jokes like that, insightful comments into the goings-on of the uber rich; the more oddly specific about his family the better. 

Alex snorted. “Yeah, pretty much, I think I mentioned I didn’t go to uni and then they spent the rest of the conversation trying to get me to admit to being some kind’a second class citizen.” 

“Oh god.” Sirius nodded, “Half of them only got into university because their parents bought them in. Don’t fret it.” 

Alex nodded, “I do love the bourgeoisie.” they said wistfully and laced with sarcasm. That reminded Sirius of what Teddy and Remus had said when he met them on Wednesday night which made a huge grin spread across his face. 

“Teddy called me that before… after the play on Wednesday. _One of those Money men_ I think was his exact words.” He told them, they laughed. “Your influence I assume.”

“Nah.” Alex shook their head, “That’s all Remus, he’s basically an anarchist. Don’t let him tell you any different.” 

It was Sirius’ turn to snort at that, he could hardly imagine cute, plaid and tweed wearing Remus who apparently likes power and conflict poetry and forgets how to talk when he’s winked at yelling about dismantling the government. Thinking about Remus reminded him why he’d gone into the kitchen in the first place. 

“Oh I’m sure,” He clapped his hands together before carrying on, “Well it was a pleasure talking to you, but I have some schemeeing and chaos-mongering to get back to if you don’t mind.” 

“Why yes, of course. I’ll leave you to it.” Alex replied in a faux-posh accent before nodding at him and heading back out to the garden. 

Once Alex had disappeared back into the middle-class fray Sirius slipped into the hallway and opened up the cupboard under the stairs, crawling in he pulled two big Tesco bags out from under the shoe rack, checked their contents and shuffled back out. Stepping back into the garden he made eye contact with Remus who squinted at him and then the bags, Sirius smiled at him about as sweetly as he could manage and then strode down towards the shed. 

Harry and Teddy had managed to round up about twelve children who were now sitting on the grass behind the bouncy castle waiting for him. Sirius put the plastic bags down next to the tap then turned back to the kids. 

“Right comrades, some rules,” He addressed the group, “Number one: don’t spray anyone else's parents, yours are fair game if you want to risk it. Understand?” He watched a series of nods before continuing, “Number two: don’t get the inside of the house wet, and try to avoid the bouncy castle.” He paused and observed the nodding, “Number three: if anyone asks where you got the water pistols James Potter gave them to you, capiche?” 

“Who is James Potter?” A little girl at the back of the group asked. 

“Me.” Sirius said loudly, drowning out Harrys quiet response: “My dad.”

“Ok sproglets, get in a line and I’ll fill these up. No shooting until everyones got one.” He gestured out in front of him and the children pushed each other into a relatively orderly line as he started pulling water pistols from the bag, filling them up from the tap and passing them to the child at the front of the queue. When Teddy got to the front of the line he pulled the biggest water pistol from the bag, a new _Super-soaka 10_ , filling it to the brim and passing it to Teddy with a smile. Once all the children were armed he filled up one of the smallest guns and tucked it into the back of his jeans. 

“Ok gang. I’m going to go, you're going to count to ten and then you can start the battle royal.” A few of the younger kids looked slightly confused, so he decided to start them counting, “One, two …” after that most of the group had caught on and started counting out loud in unison. Quickly, he turned on his heel and strode up the garden as fast as he could without looking suspicious, continuing to count in his head as he went. 

He was at eight when he reached the group, sliding up next to Remus and grinning slyly. 

Remus narrowed his eyes, “Go on then, tell us yer scheme.”

Sirius would have made a joke, but suddenly shrieking erupted from the bottom of the garden; everyone's heads turned towards the sudden noise just in time to see children come pouring out from behind the bouncy castle brandishing water pistols and squirting at each other with reckless abandon. Sirius looked away from the kids and instead to Remus, who hung his head and shook it slightly before smiling; from this angle Sirius could see his single dimple in all its glory. 

“Clever.” He said, still looking down, “Very clever.” He turned to Sirius, and Sirius could have sworn there was a sparkle in his eye, “Teddy’ll bloody love this.” Remus turned back to the kids, presumably trying to catch a view of his son. 

Sirius leaned forward to talk quietly near Remus’ ear to make sure he heard over the shouting, “Gave him the biggest one, see?”. Remus laughed and nodded and Sirius watched the way his head bobbed as he did. The children were chasing each other round, shooting in every direction and screaming in delight. All the parents were watching their children with confused looks, Sirius looked around to see if any children had been bold enough to attack their parents, he watched as a little blond boy approached the circle of ‘yummy mummies’ from behind. Sirius reached round Remus to tap Alex on the shoulder and gestured for them to watch, getting Remus and Jules to look in the process. 

The little boy crouched down slightly, he was a bit older than Harry and clearly with those extra years of life experience came improved stealth, because he managed to get within one meter of his mother without her turning around. Very quickly, he jumped out from behind her and into the centre of the circle, spraying her straight in the face and emptying the entire water pistol onto her while she shrieked and her friends backed away. Soaking wet and shaking with anger she stood up, and opened her mouth as if to yell before being interrupted by a tall man in an awful salmon polo whispering in her ear. She then seemed to think better of shouting and resolved to just glare at her son, while the man moved round to give him a high five and a pat on the back. 

Remus turned back towards Sirius, a smile playing on his lips. “I think I’ll be heading inside to wait out world war three.” He told him. 

Sirius grinned at him in a predatory way in response and then shook his head. 

“What?” 

“No no no, Mr. Lupin, I think you’ll be staying out here.” 

Remus moved to push past him and Sirius - quicker than he’d ever done anything in his life - pulled the mini water pistol out from the back of his trousers and pointed it at Remus’ face. He smirked putting on a fake American accent, “Hands where I can see ‘em, Punk!” 

“Really?” Remus laughed, Sirius raised an eyebrow and he reluctantly raised his hands. Sirius gestured to the left with the water pistol to her Remus to move. 

“This is ridiculous.” He sighed before shuffling to the left anyway. 

Once Remus was standing in a more central position in the garden, Sirius looked around the garden for a moment before eyeing Harry and Teddy who were chasing each other again, still making ‘pew-pew’ sounds as they shot. They both looked positively gleeful.

“Oi.” Sirius shouted to them, “Little Punk! I think your dad needs a shower.” He turned back to grin at Remus, who shook his head slowly and smiled. 

Clearly that was all that needed to be said to Teddy as he promptly let out a war cry and ran straight at Remus. Remus watched Teddy approach, and then jumped to the side when the little boy got close enough, fast enough to avoid Teddy’s initial attack but not Sirius’; resulting in a squirt of ice cold water to the face. Spitting out the bit that got into his mouth Remus readjusted his weight onto a slightly wider stance and turned to Teddy who was giggling loudly and trying to settle the huge water pistol to an angle with which he could hit his dad. 

“I thought we had a few years left before the mutiny, Teddy.” Remus laughed, bringing his arms up in front of him in a high-school-wrestling style pose. 

“He’s clearly inherited your anarchist tendencies.” Sirius choked out between laughs. Remus straightened a little bit and shot Sirius a confused look, he appeared to be on the verge of saying something but was interrupted by a jet of water aimed right at his chest. Remus turned back to Teddy, laughing, and pounced at him. Grabbing the little boy and rolling onto his back before hitting the ground so he could pin Teddy to his chest. Before Remus could announce his victory Teddy had readjusted the water pistol slightly, which was directly underneath Remus’ chin, trapped between their body’s, and pulled the trigger. Water shot up out of the toy and against Remus’ chin, face and going up his nose. He laughed loudly before pushing Teddy off him onto the ground and grabbing the water pistol out of his shaking little hands. 

He turned and looked up at Sirius, “Looks like the balls in my court now, Mr. Bond.” He said in mock-foreign accent that Sirius didn’t really recognise before emptying the remainder of the water at Sirius, who held up his tiny water pistol in a pathetic attempt to fight back. 

When the weapons were dry and they were both thoroughly wet through, Remus got up from the grass -pulling Teddy up with him, holding him against his hip - and looked around the garden. Sirius stood still and watched as Remus whispered something into Teddy’s ear before they both immediately burst out laughing.

Watching that whisper to each other stirred something in Sirius’ gut, it was the same feeling he had when Harry and James shared inside jokes, or when Harry would just give Lily a certain look and she knew exactly what he meant. Sirius wouldn’t call it jealousy exactly, but it made him feel sick. As if someone had reached their hand inside his chest, grabbed his stomach and twisted and twisted and twisted. He didn’t often find himself thinking of his parents anymore, now he’d got friends and a family of his making, but sometimes he would just close his eyes and wish it had been different. Wish he and his dad shared moments like James and Harry did, wish his mother would’ve looked at him and understood him completely, wish he and his brother had inside jokes and could make each other laugh with a sideways glance at the right time. 

It’d been so long since Sirius had mourned for his family, and even then he never really mourned for losing them; he mourned the idea of them. The idea of what Walburga could’ve been if she’d stopped caring so much as to how their family looked on the outside and instead treated the rot on the inside. The idea of Orion if he never started drinking, if he was always the jovial old man with quick wit and a sharp tongue he had been when Sirius was young, and never became the mean old codger with a quick fist and penchant for hurtful comments he was in his later years. Sirius’ idea of Regulus wasn’t so much of an idea, or a notion as it was an exaggerated glimpse of the boy he knew him to be, Sirius’ Reggie was kind, humble and soft. Reggie was the boy who climbed into Sirius’ bed at night to whisper about the rabbit he’d seen in the garden that morning, he was the boy who slid slices of ham and cheese under his brothers bedroom door when he was supposed to be missing dinner as a punishment, and he was the boy who loved fiercely and cared deeply. Regulus Arcturus Black wasn’t Sirius’ Reggie. He was cold, and dark and everything Reggie hated. Regulus was the boy who sneered at the homeless when they asked for change, he was the boy who laughed at jokes about the ignorance of the proletariat, he was the boy who hunted for sport and hung fox heads on his mantle. 

It’s almost ironic that Sirius didn’t think about any of his family until moments when he witnessed true familial happiness. He didn’t think about them when he was lying awake at three in the morning staring at the ceiling, or when he scrubbed a weeks worth of grime out of the café toilet. He didn’t think about them when a customer was rude to him, or when he found himself crying on the floor in his kitchen. He thought of his mother when he saw a young woman pushing a pram and cooing at her newborn. He thought of his brother when he saw little boys playing in the park, or pushing one-another on the swing set. And now, looking at Remus and his son laughing and shaking, he thought of his father. 

Orion Delphinus Black had not always been a bad person, nor had he always been a bad father. Walburga had always blamed Sirius for his fathers turn to drink, and as a child he’d believed her. Getting older Sirius gained a mild understanding of politics and the general ways of the world and began to realise that his fathers alcoholism wasn't likely to be his fault. When he came home from work and dived head first into a bottle of scotch it was more reasonable to assume that this was because he’d been humiliated in parliament and his face was plastered on every news paper in the city with the title _Black by name, Black by heart_ ; and less reasonable to think it was because Sirius had breathed wrong around him. When he came home and hurled insults and fists at Sirius is was more probable that this was because _#ODBisACunt_ and _#TheRightHonourableGentlemenIsAFacist_ was trending on twitter, and less probable that it was because Sirius had eaten his fish course with the wrong fork. When Sirius thought of his father now he didn’t think about Chancellor of the Exchequer Orion Delphinus Black, he thought of _Father_. He thought of the man who would bounce him on his knee in front of the fireplace and tell him stories about princes slaying dragons. He thought of the man who would sit on the patio smoking a cigar and waxing lyrical about the meaning of life while Sirius played on his tricycle. He thought of the man who had tucked him into bed at night, kissed him on the forehead and called him _‘my little star.’_ The man who made jokes about Walburga’s severeness behind her back, who had hidden all of her left shoes, or put salt in the sugar dish. When he thought about this man, Sirius really was mourning because while Orion D. Black is alive and well Sirius’ father is long dead.

Remus must’ve noticed a change in Sirius’ expression, because once he’d snapped out of his thoughts of him and Orion sat in front of the fire, reading bedtime stories or wrestling Remus was standing a lot closer than he had been before. The expression on his face looked concerned, but Sirius couldn’t bring himself to focus on that. From this close he could see the pale freckles sprinkled across Remus’ cheeks, he could see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes and cracked skin on his lips. He realised after a moment that Remus’ lips were moving, and that he was talking to him. 

Sirius shook closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled. 

“S’alright.” Remus replied, calmly. He was dripping wet, his over t-shirt and over-shirt stuck to his torso like a second skin. Teddy wriggled in his arms and clenched tighter onto the collar of his plaid shirt. “Where’d you go?” He asked when Sirius’ eyes were back on his face. 

“Um- nowhere. Just wondering how much shit I’m going to get in for this.” 

Remus chuckled, “Fair. And I’ll let you off for swearing in front of an impressionable youth seeing as you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” 

“I think I did.” He whispered, more to himself than Remus. He ran a hand through his hair, gathering it into a fist and squeezing the water out. A thick stream of water trickled from the clump of hair and down the front of his shirt, thoroughly wetting and remaining dry sections in its path, before trickling off down the outside of his leg. Mostly absorbed by the fabric of his jeans but a few rogue drops made it into his boots. He ran a hand through his hair again, separating it out properly into his usual parting and shaking out the damp curls. 

He looked back to Remus who had put Teddy down in order to pull off the button up shirt, he appeared to be peeling it off more than anything else. But, after a moment he was free. Remus was at least six-feet-five Sirius had guessed and he was a rather skinny bloke so Sirius was hardly surprised at the at angular and spindly nature of Remus’ arms; he was however surprised by how much he liked them, pale freckled skin stretched over long and jutting bones, and the delicate way in which his elbows poked out from the general direction of reach of the limbs. _He looks like a sculpture he thought,_ not the muscled Greek statues of heroes, but the modern art ones made of pipe and wire that are meant to show you the inside of humanity’s consciousness rather than ethereal beauty. 

Once rid of the offending garment Remus rang it out over Teddy’s head, who shook like a dog, laughed and slapped at Remus’ legs. Sirius continued to stare at the moment of Remus’ arms, the curl of his fingers and the protrusion of his wrist bones. 

Remus patted Teddy’s head and ruffled his dripping wet hair, “Go and annoy your mum for a minute, Sprout. I’ve got a bone to pick with Sirius here.” Sirius watched as Remus picked the empty water pistol off the ground and handed it back to Teddy before patting him on the back and turning towards Sirius. 

“Bone to pick?” 

“Nah. Not really.” He laughed, “Though, I wouldn’t mind a towel.” 

Sirius nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Ok” and gestured for Remus to follow him into the house. They walked into the kitchen, Remus’ dripping a bit of water onto the tiles. “Wait here.” Sirius told him, before disappearing into the laundry room that was off to the side of the kitchen. He stood in the quiet room for a moment and leaned forward, bracing his head against the cool tiled walls and shut his eyes. Banishing all thoughts of his father and turning his consciousness to more pressing things; _Flirting is fun,_ he told himself, _flirting is fine. He thinks I’m an adonis. An Adonis._ he repeated that a few more times, _He got flustered when I winked at him. He’s hot, but so am I. I can flirt with him. Totally. Ok._ He pulled his head off the wall and grabbed an ugly yellow towel off the top of the pole and waltzed back into the kitchen as if he hadn’t just had to take a minute to give himself a pep-talk. 

Remus was leaning against the island, water was running down from his hair, along the side of his face and dropping from his chin onto his shirt. He was holding his phone in his hand and clicking random buttons, when he heard Sirius come back in he turned to look at him and smiled. 

“Lucky this didn’t get wet.” He laughed, shaking the phone. 

Sirius nodded, handing him the towel. _Flirt_ he reminded himself, but watching Remus take the towel and start scrubbing his hair with it may have killed off his few remaining brain cells. Sirius watched for a few seconds as Remus’ biceps flexed and his wrists curled in different directions. He swallowed, thickly. _Speak monkey, speak._

“You’re a really good dad.” That hadn’t been what he meant to say. 

Remus’ hands stilled in his hair and he brought his eyes up to Sirius’. 

“That’s- Sorry that’s a really weird thing to say.” He stuttered before Remus could respond. 

Dragging the towel down from his head he smiled at Sirius, “Don’t worry. I get that all the time.” Sirius couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, his tone was the same as normal but it didn’t seem like something Remus would say. 

“Really?” 

“Uh… No?” Clearly sarcastic this time. Then, as if remembering something, “Actually just this wednesday, some random guy I sat next too at my sons play-“ 

“I said I was sorry!” Sirius cut him off, yelling in a petulant voice and waving his arms. 

“I know. I know, only teasing.” Remus amended. 

Before Sirius could respond Lily tumbled into the kitchen looking like a wet dog. She was completely soaked to the bone, not an inch of her body dry and her usually vibrant red hair looked dark with water. 

“My darling husband and son just poured an entire bucket of water over my head.” She said by way of greeting. She didn’t look very pleased, but Sirius knew her well enough to know that her anger was brief and fleeting and shortly she’d be cackling about it and probably plotting her revenge. 

“You look like the girl from the ring.” Sirius deadpanned. 

“And whose fault is that?” She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Uh, James and Harry’s?” 

“No I actually think it was you who started the water fight, Black.” 

“You have no evidence, Evans. I covered my tracks.” 

She snorted at that, and marched past him into the laundry room to receive a towel of her own. Sirius turned back to Remus who was already looking at him. 

“I’m gonna go check on Teddy.” He said, “But, Thanks.” 

“Thanks for what?” 

“This,” He gestured to the water fight that was still continuing outside, “You probably made his week.” He paused for a little bit, pushing off the counter, “And mine.” And then he was striding out into the garden on his stupid long legs before Sirius even had time to respond. 

“You’re welcome.” He muttered to himself. 

“What?” Lily asked, emerging from the laundry room with a towel wrapped around her head. She’d removed her blouse and was left in a camisole top and jean combination that reminded Sirius of her fashion sense as a teenager. 

“Nothing.” Sirius replied, followed shortly by, “Revenge?” 

Lily nodded, then used her finger to wipe mascara from under her eyes before speaking. “I want to chase him round with the hose, but I think I’d end up getting too many other people wet and I don’t want to give Sandra another reason to try and throw me off the PTA.” 

Sirius laughed and nodded. 

“Then I thought I’d get him with the bucket too. But that doesn’t seem big enough.”

“I reckon you just go with the hose, Lil. Sod Sandra.” 

Lily nodded, “You're right. Sod Sandra.” She pulled the towel off her head, shook her hair out a bit and then walked back into the garden. 

“Good Luck.” He called after her. 

He leaned against the island and turned back to the garden and watched the chaos unfold. The majority of the ‘yummy mummies’ were drenched, looking nothing short of drowned rats. A few of the dads were joking around with their kids, carrying them on their back as they fired at other kids on other dads backs; like some demented game of chicken. 

Sirius often thinks he’s a good Uncle because he didn’t get to do things like this as a child. He’s got a big long list of everything he ever heard anybody say they’d done and he’d been jealous of, and he was determined to give Harry all of it. Trips to the zoo, Alton Towers and Blackpool. Water fights, WWE matches and football games. Ski trips, movie nights and paintballing. Harry Potter would have it all. Sirius also knew that that stuff wasn’t important, not really. He loved Harry more than he thinks his parents ever loved him, and he made sure Harry knew it. Telling him and showing him at any opportunity. 

Harry was currently jumping up and down like something demented, presumably as a distraction, as James watched and Lily crept up behind him with a hose pipe. Sirius watched as she got closer, clicking it on with her thumb and then diving forward and shoving the pipe down the back of James’ trousers. James realised a girlish scream and started hopping from foot to foot before pulling the hose out of his trousers and turning it back on Lily. Lily dived at him to try and get the hose back but instead ended up knocking James to the floor, the two of them wrestled around on the ground and Harry ended up joining in trying to get hold of the hose for himself. 

He then turned his attention to Remus, who was laughing with Alex as Teddy and Jules chased each other round with a set of water pistols. All four of them were laughing, that uninhibited tip your head back and expose your throat kind of laugh. Sirius watched as Teddy ran back towards Remus and Alex and tried to duck between Alex’s legs, getting on his knees, pushing their stance a bit wider and crawling in; then pulling the excess material of their trousers around him. Sirius could see, even from all the way inside the kitchen, the tuft of blue hair sticking out the fabric at around Alex’s knee height. He continued to watch as Remus and Alex looked to each other and shrugged, and then Jules approached and said loudly enough so that even Sirius could hear, _“Where’d little puff go?”_. Jules continued talking, but Sirius couldn’t hear any of what was said and eventually Teddy peaked his head out from between Alex’s knees and Jules darted forward to grab him, in turn knocking Alex onto their arse and Remus falling along with them because Alex had grabbed his forearm and pulled him down too. 

Lay on the ground, Alex’s torso was on top of Remus - whose arm was pinned behind their back with the other splayed wide - and their legs where splayed with Jules lay across both shins and Teddy sprawled horizontally across her Torso with his legs stretched out, one on either side of Alex’s hips. Sirius watched them all vibrate with laughter and he smiled; his gut didn’t twist, he didn’t think of Orion, or Reggie or even Walburga, he just smiled and watched as they tried to untangle themselves and then laughed when Remus fell back onto the floor because Jules had tugged on his arm. 

The water fight tapered off over the course of the next twenty minutes and guests started going home, smiling politely and thanking James and Lily for their invite. A few of the ‘yummy mummies’ gave Lily a sneer which she clearly tried and failed not to laugh at. Sirius had spent around forty minutes trying to single-handed fold up the bouncy castle and getting rather mad at his failure when Remus approached him. He was slightly drier now but still looked rather disheveled. 

“We’re heading off.” He said, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb, “Teddy’s starting to get a bit moody, and cold.” 

Sirius stood from his squatting position over the mostly deflated bouncy castle, “Oh. Alright then. Hope you had a good time.” 

“Me and Jules had to basically tear Teddy and Harry apart. So yeah. I think he’s had fun.” 

“No no.” Sirius said, wiping his hands, “I meant I hope _you_ had a good time. Though I’m majorly thrilled Harry’s made another friend.” 

“Oh.” Remus blushed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his damp jeans, “I did actually. Yeah. I really did.” 

“Good.”

Remus turned around to go, but made a few steps before turning around to Sirius, “You know, you’re not the judgemental snob you made yourself out to be on Wednesday.” 

Sirius smiled at him, “I thought you said you weren’t bothered? and that you accepted my apology?”

“Oh I did. Still thought you were a bit up your own arse though. I think it was the jacket.” Remus laughed. 

“I thought I was an Adonis?” He raised his eyebrows at him, making him blush. 

“You can be pretty and pompous at the same time, Sirius.” 

“But I’m not pompous?” He grinned. 

“No. You’re not.” 

Remus turned back around and walked up the garden towards Jules, Alex and Teddy who were chatting with Lily and James. Sirius watched him go, watched as he reached Teddy and picked him up, watched as he shook James’ hand and hugged a still soggy Lily, and then, just as he was about to disappear into the house he turned over his shoulder and smiled at Sirius. Sirius smiled back. Following Remus into the house Alex turned back and raised their hand in a salute to Sirius, he saluted back too. Juliette turned to look at him then gestured with her fingers to her eyes then to him, _I’m watching you,_ normally that was the sort of thing Sirius would laugh at but for some reason he found it a little intimidating. 

Once they’d all gone Sirius bent back down and continued to pack up the bouncy castle, he’d managed to get three quarters of it into the bag before he was interrupted. 

“So?” 

He turned to his left to see Lily leaning against the wall of the shed. 

“So?” He repeated. 

“So… Young, very attractive, intelligent.” She said with a condescending tone in her voice. 

“Oh I know I am thank you.” He laughed, so did she. 

“I meant Remus. Narcissist.” 

“I gathered.” 

“Well, you seemed to get on well.” 

He turned back to the bouncy castle and continued to stuff it into the bag, somehow it managed to stay completely dry throughout the afternoon's antics. “I’ve only met him twice. Well, once, last time doesn’t really count.” He said quietly. 

“And you could ask him to meet again?” He could hear the smile in her voice. 

“Yeah… Maybe. I think- I might do. Yeah.” Truthfully, he did want to see Remus again, but also thinks that after one meeting it’s a bit over eager to track him down and ask him out. But then again, when he’d come over to say goodbye, _that was flirting, right?_ And besides, Remus had a kid, and people with kids don’t casually date. Or at least, Sirius thought they didn’t. Sirius thought on it for a bit more while he continued to pack away the last section of bouncy castle. Eventually, when he finished the task he came to a conclusion. 

He didn’t know Remus well enough to decide if he wanted to date him, but he did know enough to decide he definitely wanted to know more. Preferably, he’d like to know everything there was to know about Remus Lupin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, hoped you enjoyed the chapter. 
> 
> I really appreciate the kudos and comments on the previous chapter but most importantly thank you for reading my fic. 
> 
> Next time we a chapter following Remus again and we will get inside his pretty little head more, and some Harry and Teddy quality friendship time. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks :)


	4. Something About Elbow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter kind of got away from me, I planned to write something completely different but when I'd wrote that I hated it and got rid of the whole thing. Nothing much really happens, Teddy and Remus adopt an endangered animal and I use too many adjectives. 
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoy it

Remus was drifting in and out of sleep when he heard shuffling sounds coming from the hallway, he turned on his side and watched his bedroom door waiting for it to open. It was still dark outside, meaning it was at least earlier than four AM, and it was definitely sometime after one because he was sure he’d been in bed for more than an hour. A few seconds later it was pushed open a crack and Teddy stuck his head around the door, Remus could see his red face from the glow of the little triangular nightlight he was carrying, after staring into the darkness of Remus’ room for a moment Teddy pushed the door wider and waddled in. 

“Daddy?” He whispered, hugging his stuffed carrot plushie to his chest and holding up the night light with the other. 

“Everything ok, Sprout?” He whispered back, from the look on Teddy’s face he probably had a nightmare but he hadn’t heard any crying which is typical when Teddy wakes up from a bad dream - usually punctuated with shouts about giant spiders or other monsters - so he didn’t want to assume anything. He hoped it wasn’t a nightmare for obvious reasons, but compared to the other reasons Teddy would come and wake him up in the middle of the night it was certainly the more preferable. The others being he’d thrown up, wet the bed or (the only thing Remus actually got annoyed at) decided he was no longer tired and would come and harass Remus into getting up and entertaining him. 

Teddy shook his head, “Am sad.” 

_Oh,_ Remus peeled back the corner of his duvet and held it up. Teddy smiled at him and then wiped his face on the leafy parts of his carrot before waddling over and pulling himself up onto the bed, putting the nightlight down on Remus’ bedside table exactly where his alarm clock had been until Friday when he’d ceremoniously turned it off and put it inside the top drawer to mark the start of the summer holiday. Once on the bed he curled up against Remus' side, putting his head at the point Remus’ arm met his shoulder as a pillow. Remus curled his arm down and rubbed Teddy’s back in slow motions, with his other hand he brushed Teddys fringe back from his forehead and tried to get a good look at his face. His eyes were red and a little bit puffy and it looked like he’d been biting his lip a little bit; he’d definitely been crying. Remus was a lot more concerned now, he hadn’t heard Teddy crying; he usually wails and screaming and kicks when he cries. Has Teddy been silently crying for ages and he had been too oblivious to notice? 

“Why are you sad, love?” He tipped his head to the side to kiss Teddy’s forehead, keeping rubbing his back. 

“Mummy says all the sea animals are dying.” He whispered, made a wet sob like sound and continued, “And she says that if we don’t do anything to help them they’ll go ex- expinked.” 

Remus kept rubbing Teddys back and tried to think of something to say to that. Jules was a great mother, she loved Teddy. Jules was a great activist, she loved the planet. Jules was about as tactful as a bull in a china shop and sometimes forgot Teddy was literally four years old and would take almost everything she said very literally. Her and Teddy had gone to see the under-the-sea exhibit at the Natural History museum yesterday and she must’ve mentioned something about plastic pollution, or over-fishing, or poaching. Remus sighed, he couldn’t tell Teddy she was wrong: firstly, and mostly importantly, because she wasn't, and secondly because he and Jules had a delicate parenting balance where they tried not to contradict each other. 

“Would you wanna do something to help to save them?” He asked quietly. 

Teddy turned his head on Remus’ shoulder trying to look at his face, he looked a little bit confused, “But how can _I_ help? I’m only little and I can’t even swim proper.” 

“Well,” Remus said, nearly whispering, “We can donate money to people who go out into the sea and try and find endangered - rare - animals and look after them, or we could go onto the WWF website and adopt an animal. Like a turtle, or a penguin. Maybe we could go to the beach one day and pick up plastic that has washed up from being in the ocean?” 

“Ok,” Teddy replied, then a few seconds later, “If we adopted a turtle where would we put it?” 

Remus chuckled a little and Teddy poked him in the ribs, “When you adopt an animal, it's more like a sponsorship. Um- you send experts the money and they use it to protect the places where the turtles live, and for legal battles. To, like, change the laws on what nets fishermen can use and make deliberately hunting them illegal.” 

“Oh. Ok.” Teddy nuzzled his head against Remus' shoulder, “Can we do that then? Adopt a turtle?” 

“Yeah.” Remus nodded shallowly, then quickly added, “In the morning.” 

“Mmm… Good night, dad.” 

“Good night, Sprout.” Remus muttered into Teddys hair before kissing him on the crown of his head and lying back down. He shifted his legs a little bit to get more comfortable and then closed his eyes to the glow of Teddy’s nightlight. 

He liked it when Teddy slept in his bed, he preferred it when he wasn’t upset -obviously- but he found that Teddy's little huffed breaths calmed him down and that the little bit of extra body heat was rather nice, especially in winter. Teddy had said he liked sleeping with Remus because _‘Daddy keeps the nightmares away.’_ and Remus had silently agreed with him; when he had Teddy clinging to his arm or lay on top of him it was remarkably hard to lose himself in night-time thoughts of loneliness and self pity when his son, who acted like Remus had hung the moon, was right there.

He never felt lonely during the day anymore, he had at first, before Teddy could talk and before he’d met Frank and Alice or made friends with Nelle from the maths department. He’d eventually got used to not having company every minute of everyday and began to save stories and funny moments to tell people when he saw them; which at first was hard, given he’d lived with Juliette since he was eighteen and they’d been attached at the hip much longer than that. But, perhaps later rather than sooner, he’d gotten used to calling his mum to laugh with her about the latest news in politics, and talking to Nelle in the staff room when one of his students did something stupid instead of going to see Jules in the classroom nextdoor, and ranting to Alice about the women infront of him in the queue at Tesco who had sworn at the cashier. It wasn’t bad, but it was different. (He still saved the best stories to tell Jules when she came back, and she did the same for him. She told him about a man that got pooped on by a monkey in a sacred temple and he told her about the woman who had unironically gone on a rant about sterilizing the poor in a local cafe loud enough for everyone to hear.) 

It was only when he was lying in the dark in his room that he ever felt lonely, he wasn’t sure if lonely really described what it was. It felt more like his body was hollow than that he was lonely. Lonely was such an emotional thing to be, but splayed out in the middle of his king size bed watching the streetlight flicker though the gap in his curtain it felt more physical than emotional, like someone had snatched his organs from his chest or scraped the marrow out of his bones. And then, when he felt so completely empty that he was sure he was light enough to float off the bed and up to the ceiling, Teddy would come and crawl into bed with him. Sometimes it felt like Teddy had cracked Remus’ ribs open and crawled into the cavity of his chest, the empty feeling would vanish and Remus would smile into Teddy’s hair and wonder how the hell he’d just spent two hours feeling sorry for himself when he has everything he could ever want right there in his arms. 

In bed at god-knows-when on the first Monday of the summer holiday, with Teddys soft breath against his neck and the orange glow of night light against his eyes Remus didn’t think of anything other than how much he was going to have to shell out for World Wildlife Fund in the morning. 

“Daddy.” _poke._ “Dad.” _poke._ “Dad.” _poke._

Remus opened his eyes and grabbed Teddy’s hand so he’d stop shoving his finger into his cheek. Teddy was standing next to the bed holding a plastic cup full of milk, Remus squinted a bit against the light and shifted his weight so he was propped up on his elbow, Teddy held the milk out him. 

“I made you breakfast.” He said proudly and then gestured to the single slice of bread on a pink plastic plate on top of the drawers. The plastic pots where within Teddy’s reach, as was the little milk carton and Remus had seen him drag the bread bin forward to get cupcakes from it before; the idea of breakfast in bed greatly appealed to Remus, however not at the crack of dawn, and he’d rather have tea and toast than dry bread and milk. He smiled anyway, taking the cup from Teddy and placing it down carefully next to the bread.

“What time is it, Sprout?” He asked, his voice was a bit gravely, he considered that he should actually drink the milk. 

Teddy shrugged in response, making his sleep shirt slip off his shoulder. It was way too big for him, Alex had left it behind when they had last stayed over and it had a silhouette of the save the children logo on the back and the front said quite simply, _“Save the children 2011”_ which was a bit of a strange choice for a four-year-olds pyjamas. Teddy had acquired it on the premise that it smelled nice, which to be fair it had (like Juniper) but it’d been in the wash too many times since then to still smell nice and yet Teddy refused to let Remus throw it away.

“Go and check for me, go and read the clock on the oven and come back?” He waved the arm that he wasn’t leaning on in the direction of the door and Teddy wandered off. Remus looked back towards the cup of milk, it was the _cars 2_ cup which was Teddy’s current favourite; he was trying to butter him up. Remus closed his eyes and flopped back on to the bed. It was sweet, Teddy was adorable, it wasn't going to work. He looked back to the cup again and sighed, _it was._

Teddy returned a few seconds later, “It's five-three-eight.” He said, smiling. 

Remus groaned and sat up, leaning over to pluck Teddy from the floor and sit him on his lap on top of the duvet. He rubbed his hands up and down Teddy’s arms, Teddy just adjusted his legs so they were more comfortable stretched out in front of him, putting his bare feet a little too close to Remus’ face than Remus would like. 

“Too early,” Remus told him, dropping his hands from Teddy’s arms and moving them to tickle his feet instead. Teddy started laughing and rolled onto his side kicking at Remus. Remus stopped after Teddy had quite literally kicked him in the jaw, he rubbed and hand over it and asked, “And why, might I ask, are you awake and providing me with breakfast?”

“So you get up.” Teddy repsoned, like it was obvious, bringing his legs back underneath him and sitting cross legged in the middle of the bed. 

“Mmmm. And why would I need to get up?” He said, in a tone that clearly indicated he knew what Teddy wanted. 

Teddy giggled a little, “To adopt a turtle.” 

Remus did an overdramatic nod to indicate he was contemplating it, “I might remember saying something about that.” 

“You do remember,” Teddy, in typical Teddy fashion was shaking a little bit from excitement, “And you said that we could go to a beach and get plastic, and donate money to a charity that rescues rare animals.” 

“Yes yes it’s all coming back to me now.” Remus mused. He had only intended on doing one of those three things, preferably the cheapest and least time consuming, but seeing Teddy look excited when he was so upset the night before meant he didn’t have the heart to correct him and would likely end up doing them all. The only one that was properly expensive was going to a beach and that's only because of the train fair, if he made it a proper day out it’d definitely be worth it. 

He pushed the duvet back and swung his legs out the bed, “Come on then you little horror, I want a cup of tea before I end up selling my soul to WWF.” He grabbed the milk and bread and stood up, watching as Teddy crawled off the bed after him and he then walked to the kitchen; drinking the milk is one big gulp on the way. 

Remus was right that Teddy had pulled the bread bin forward to get the bread, but the rest of the loaf was on the floor, as was the milk carton and another empty plastic cup. He turned over his shoulder to Teddy who was standing in the doorway and raised an eyebrow at him; Teddy smiled sweetly and shrugged a little bit. Remus put the cup in his hand in the sink and put the slice of bread from his plate into the toaster, then held his hand out to Teddy who had picked the cup off the floor and passed it to Remus to put in the sink, then he made grabby-hands to be lifted up onto the counter. Remus complied and put him next to the sink, before picking up the kettle and filling it with water and setting it to boil. 

“You could’ve put this back, you know?” He said, picking up the packet of bread from the floor, putting it back into the bread bin and pushing it back against the wall. 

Teddy shrugged and didn’t answer, instead he asked, “Can I adopt a shark as well as a turtle? Or a dolphin?” He was swinging his legs back and forward and his heels were banging against the cupboard underneath where he was sat. 

“I don’t know, we’ll have to have a look on the website,” Remus mused, pulling his mug from the cupboard and putting it on the counter, he reached up to grab a second mug but stopped himself and just closed the cupboard instead. “Maybe you should just pick one animal at a time?” 

Teddy nodded and Remus leaned over the windowsill and flicked on the radio that was sat there, _Have a Nice Day_ by _Stereophonics_ was playing. He quite liked this song, it reminded him of when he and a group of friends in secondary school had skipped school to get the train to the lake district and go swimming. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back slightly and listened to Kelly Jones sing and thought about running through Keswick carrying his dripping wet jeans in one hand and gripping Juliette’s hand with the other, dragging her behind him and urging her on to catch up with their friend Aaron who had taken off from the lake in nothing but a wet pair of boxers, he could remember the feel of the cold water around his ankles, and the woosh of air that had passed him when he’d jumped off the jetty into the lake. The kettle started whistling. When he opened his eyes he looked at Teddy, who had a huge grin on his face and his arms stretched out to the side turning his hands and rolling his arms, like people do when they stick their arm out of a car window. He seemed to remember the song, his lips occasionally moving like he was lip syncing the words during the chorus, and he had his eyes closed like he was having a religious experience. Remus had played this song a lot when Teddy was little to get him to sleep, he probably hadn’t heard it in at least a year though, neither had Remus. 

Remus just stood and watched Teddy for the remainder of the song and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, at some point the little boy had started swaying side to side as well as moving his arms. There was something so delicate about the moment, the crackling on the old radio, the gentle glow of the early morning filtering through the window and the smell of toast. It made Remus feel _full,_ overflowing even, like flowers were blooming in his bones and he couldn’t help but grin. When the song finished Teddy lowered his arms and opened his eyes, looking at Remus. 

“I like that song.” He said, quite simply, oblivious to the magic he’d just created. 

“Me too.” Remus smiled and then turned to make his cup of tea, spooning in a bit of sugar and a splash of milk. “Do you want something to eat?” He asked Teddy. 

Teddy shook his head, “After I’ve adopted a Dolphin. Or a penguin. Or maybe a whale.” 

“Ok.” Remus said, biting into his toast. The next song on the radio clicked on, _Don’t look back in anger_ , he hummed along and passed Teddy his mug when the tea was cold enough to drink. A few minutes and a slice of toast later Teddy passed the mug back to Remus who drank the last few drops and helped Teddy down of the counter, who then proceeded the grab the front of Remus’ t-shirt and drag him to the computer. 

Remus sat at the desk with their computer on and pushed a stack of books to the side (Polish translations of the Iliad - 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century - that he hadn’t read because he doesn’t speak Polish but had bought because he heard the nuances of Greek had been better retained in Polish), pulled Teddy into his lap and turned the computer on. He opened Internet Explorer and then the WWF website and scrolled down to _‘Become an animal adopter.’_

“Ok, Sprout; Sea Turtle, Penguin, Dolphin or Polar Bear?” He said, resting his chin on Teddy's head, and then promptly being shook off when Teddy darted forward to grab the computer mouse. He clicked on the Dolphin picture and it opened up an information page. 

“Adopt a dolphin,” Teddy slowly read out the title, “Every year, thou-sand-s of dolphins acki- ackiden-”

“Accidentally.” 

“Accidentally drown in fishing nets.” He turned over his shoulder to look at Remus, “That’s a lot, Dad.”

“Mmm,” Remus agreed, “Scroll down a bit.” Teddy complied and scrolled down to a paragraph of information, “Dolphins are generally social creatures that live in groups – called pods – which can contain hundreds of individuals. These charismatic - that's like, funny, and happy - and intelligent - um, clever - mammals are found in most oceans around the world, as well as in some of the world’s largest rivers. Adopt a dolphin for yourself or as a gift for a loved one.” He read out, explaining some of the words he wasn’t sure if Teddy knew. 

Teddy scrolled down again to a section titled _Threats_ and Remus read out most of, and then to the _How we can help,_ section, listing the bullet points while Teddy nodded. 

“So Dolphin yeah?” He asked him once they’d read the whole page. 

“Yup.” Teddy nodded repeatedly, so fast Remus was worried he might detach his skull from his spine. 

“Are you sure?” He checked, putting a hand on Teddy's head to stop his nodding as vehemently. 

“Yeah, for definite.” 

Remus sighed and rolled the desk chair back a little bit, “Ok, go get my wallet then.” 

Teddy slid off the chair and ran to the door as fast as he could, shoving his hands into the pocket of Remus’ tweed jacket and producing his wallet. Remus grabbed the computer mouse and clicked _Adopt Now_ and selected a one off payment of thirty-six pounds, which was the lowest amount they offered; he considered for a moment entering his own amount but that just felt cheap. Teddy appeared at his side and shoved the wallet into his hand, Remus pulled his card down and placed it on the table and helped Teddy back onto his knee. 

“Ok, gift for Edward Lupin,” Remus mumbled as he filled out the form, “Information pack for the under 12’s, mmmm, delivery address two A - mmm - Teddy, do you want a dolphin toy?” 

Teddy looked at the screen, there were two panels displayed, _‘Please send me my cuddly toy.’_ and _‘Please don't send me my toy - so my donation will go further.’_ Teddy took a moment to read it and Remus thought the wording was a little guilt-trip-y but he supposed it was true. Teddy shook his head after about thirty seconds, Remus placed his hand that wasn't on the house onto Teddy's head and brushed his fringe of his face with his thumb and selected the second option, then proceeded to payment. Once the payment was complete Remus printed the adoption certificate and grabbed some blu-tack from the top drawer of the desk. 

“Ok Mr. Edward Lupin animal adopter, where shall we put this?” He said holding up the certificate. Teddy grinned at him, and tipped his head left and right to indicate thinking. 

“Fridge.” He declared, grabbing Remus’ t-shirt again to pull him into the kitchen. 

“Good choice.” Remus agreed, tacking it up in the centre of the fridge door; right next to a photo of Jules and Alex stood in front of a huge waterfall in Tanzania. When he was done he turned back to Teddy whose smile was still stretched wide across his face, the complete opposite of how he’d looked last night. A little blue haired vision of joy, Remus bent down and scooped him up into his arms and held him against his hip. Teddy grinned at him and giggled a bit at the motion, Remus took the hand that wasn’t holding him up and pushed his fringe back from his forehead and titled his head down to give him a kiss there. 

“Ew, daddy.” Teddy swatted him away, jokingly, “What’s that for.” 

Remus laughed and ran his hand through Teddy’s hair, shaking it up a little bit, “Nothing, Sprout. I just love you.” 

“Oh. Well, I love you too, Dad.” He said, resting his head down against Remus' shoulder for a second and then shooting up straight, “Can we call Mummy and tell her we adopted a dolphin?”

Remus spun then around and glanced at the clock on the oven, _6:21_ , Alex would be awake doing yoga or eating granola or whatever hippy shit they filled their time with and Jules, who is practically allergic to dawn, would be in bed and asleep. Remus wasn’t a particularly vengeful person, bar extreme cases - like when the chemistry teacher at work had deliberately blocked his car in when he mentioned he needed to go early, so Remus had his car towed a week later for parking on yellow lines - but he did rather like the idea of Juliette facing the consequences of her actions in the form of a six AM phone call. 

“Sure,” He replied, putting Teddy back down and picking the landline up from next to the radio and dialing Juliette’s mobile number. 

“Hi, Remus. Julitte’s asleep, anything I can do for you?” Alex answered, sounding as jovial as ever; Remus suppressed his _ugh, morning people_ groan. 

“Mornin’ Lex, Teddy wanted to chat to her. Can you wake her up?” Remus asked, Teddy stood in front of him with both his feet on top of Remus left one. He smiled down at Teddy and he smiled back, swinging back a bit holding onto the lip of the counter next to Remus’ hip. 

“Yeah. Ok.” Alex replied, then he heard a bit quieter, “ _Jules… Jules, it’s Remus. Teddy wants to talk to you.”_

He heard the mumbling of the phone being passed around and then, “What the fuck could you possibly need to tell me before noon?” She sounded like utter shit, Remus couldn’t hold back the snort. 

“Good morning to you too, Teddy said he wanted to talk to you.” He heard some more rustling through the phone, presumably Juliette sitting up. 

“Ok.” She said, “Put him on.” 

Remus passed the phone to Teddy who didn't even say _‘hello’_ before launching into his story about the dolphins. Remus picked him up and set him on the counter before retreating to lean against the opposite side of the kitchen. Teddy jabbered on for a few minutes and Remus retreated out of the room to go to the toilet, when he came back Teddy was nodding and kicking the cabinets. 

“Yeah, ok.” He seemed somehow more excited than he was a few minutes ago, “Yeah, I’ll tell him. Ok… Bye Mummy. Love you too.” He took the phone away from his face and pressed the end call button before putting it down next to him. 

“You’ll tell me what?” Remus asked from the doorway, raising an eyebrow. 

Teddy smiled at him, “Mummy said we should meet her and Alex and have breakfast together.” 

Remus should’ve known she’d do something like that, he had wanted to go back to bed now. Curl up with _The Colossus of Maroussi_ and a cup of hot tea and see if he could find it in him to go back to sleep knowing it’s already light. Jules was good at getting her own back, always had been; there was a time in primary school when she’d filled a boy’s PE trainers with custard because he’d stolen her jelly the day before. She was even better at it now, her usual revenge tactic was ‘something Teddy would love, and Remus would hate’, occasionally that lead to doing something she also hated (like getting out of bed, or roller skating) which made the whole situation even more ridiculous and ensured that it ended in a good laugh. 

Remus smiled, and walked over to Teddy to lift him off the work-surface, “Did she now?” 

“She did.” 

A loud pinging noise Remus recognised as his text tone came from the lounge, and he went to grab his phone Teddy following him and then flopping onto the ratty sofa. Remus found his phone under a Royal Shakespeare Company brochure and checked his notifications. 

_Alex Byrne (6:28 am) : said i’d text you the address for the cafe, it's the marauders map on penny road, number 32, next door 2 the posh clothes shop._

He sighed and texted back. 

_Remus Lupin (6:29 am) : And what time am I supposed to be attending to her majesty?_

Alex replied again almost instantly. 

_Alex Byrne (6:29 am) : queen bitch requests ur presence at 8 o’clock sharp._

_Remus Lupin (6:30 am) : Ok. Thanks. & tell her I hate her. _

Remus put his phone into his pocket and settled down on the sofa next to Teddy who was trying to open the box of a _Blue Planet_ DVD they’d bought last week and hadn’t watched yet, Remus leant over and helped him. Teddy then hopped off the sofa and went up to the TV, turned it on and slid the DVD in. Teddy came back and sat next to him on the sofa, this documentary was about blue whales, Teddy said they’re ‘quite boring but chill.’ and Remus quite liked them. About halfway through his phone buzzed again. 

_Juliette Corve (7:03 am) : u don’t hate me. i’m too pretty to be hated._

He chuckled a little and went back to watching the programme, this bit was about the whales respiratory system and Teddy was trying to see how long he could hold his breath. Surprisingly enough, not as long as a whale. He’d puffed his cheeks out in an attempt to improve his lung capacity and was counting on his fingers how long it’d been, it was actually quite cute. Remus held up his phone and took a photo just before Teddy did a dramatic exhale; he’d send that photo to Hope and Lyall later. 

When the documentary was done at about half-past-seven Remus went and got dressed and told Teddy do to the same, he was trying to find a clean t-shirt for himself when Teddy knocked on his door and said he needed help with some fastenings so he just grabbed a random top out of the drawer and threw it. He then helped Teddy do up the over the shoulder buttons of the multi-coloured multi-textured dungarees that had very quickly become his favourite thing ever to a point where getting him out of them Saturday night, despite all his clothes being wet, was a nightmare. He had also wanted to wear them yesterday but Remus had put a load of Teddy’s washing on and they weren’t dry, he ended up pouting for about twenty minutes and refused to get dressed until Remus had bribed him with a Mars bar. Remus admitted that the dungarees looked considerably less ridiculous with a plain white t-shirt underneath rather than the green one he’d worn before. 

Remus walked into the lounge to get his and Teddy’s shoes, he checked the clock, it was _7:50_ meaning that they’d probably end up being late to breakfast but it wasn’t really a huge problem. He pulled on his shoes - the same brown doc martens he’d worn pretty much every day for the last two years - , then tied Teddy’s laces. He went to grab his keys from the kitchen and get Teddy’s denim jacket from his room before they set off. 

Penny road was about fifteen minutes away from their flat, but at the rate Teddy was pulling Remus towards the high street they’d be there in ten. It would have been a nice morning to go and sit in the park actually, the sky was a perfect pale blue and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight; it was just warm enough for a t-shirt and jeans now, but given it was still early that was an indicator it would probably get hotter as the day went on. He didn’t dislike hot weather, but he’d like to avoid having to get out his one pair of cargo shorts and looking like every middle aged man ever. 

Teddy loved the sun, it was his favourite weather apparently. He’d just bask in the light for hours and hours and come out of it with a sun-warmed look and a smile on his face; Remus didn’t miss how like Jules that was, even when they where little she’d prefer to go and sit in the the sun and just soak in the freshness of it over anything else. Remus’ favourite weather came after a hot day, cloudless dark with a hot breeze. The unnatural calm that came before a thunderstorm. 

_The Marauders Map_ was positioned at the nice end of Penny road, the bit where all the old terrace houses had been made into fancy shops and hairdressers; this made it look more than a little out of place. Even through the window Remus could see that the furniture was mismatched, and the warm orange and wooden tones of the general space didn’t partially strike him as up market. Before he could start analysing the sign above the shop front Teddy shoulder barged the door to open it. 

The first thing Remus noticed entering the café was the smell, burning coffee and all-butter croissants. The second thing he noticed was the music, _10/10_ by _Paolo Nutini_ was playing. The third thing Remus noticed upon entering the café is that it was not just a café, half of it appeared to be a record store. It was all very strange, comfortable but in an abnormal kind of way. 

Once inside Teddy let go of his hand and darted over to Jules and Alex who were sat at a low coffee table on an enormous sofa that looked like it could devour them both. Teddy jumped onto Jules’ lap and knocked her pastry flying out of her hand and onto the floor, instead of mourning the loss of her breakfast Jules just wrestled Teddy into the sofa and tickled him until he shrieked. Remus laughed to himself and walked over to the table, sitting down on one of the armchairs opposite them. 

“Good morning.” He said to Alex, Jules was still preoccupied with Teddy. 

They smiled over the cup of herbal tea clutched in their hands. Alex looked distinctly un-Alex sat there in sweatpants and a _Ramones_ t-shirt (even though the sweatpants were tie dyed). “Morning.” they replied, leaning forward to put their mug down, “So, I have something to ask you.” 

Remus nodded, “Go on.” He was prepared to agree to pretty much any favour Alex asked other than letting their naked art group meet in his flat, he’d agreed before thinking it was a normal art group and had then come home after work to some random girl sat on his sofa being drawn like one of Jack’s French girls. He’d covered his eyes and retreated to Frank and Alice’s flat to hide and vowed he’d never agree to hosting them again. 

“Well, you seemed to get on rather well with Sirius on Saturday and I was wondering if you’d like to see him again?” 

Remus had thought about seeing Sirius again, he’d thought about it quite a lot actually. He’d decided he would like to see Sirius again, but he wouldn’t let himself decide on a context; running in to him in Tesco was good, seeing him at another school event was even better, asking Lily for his phone number and asking him on a date wasn’t something he’d allowed himself to weigh the merits and pitfalls off. 

“I s'pose I would.” He shrugged, as casually as he could, “Why?” 

Alex smiled at him, strangely predatory for such a pretty face. “This,” They started, picking up a spoon and stirring their tea, “is his café.” 

“I’m sorry,” Remus startled, “What!?” 

As if on queue the door behind the counter opened and a very familiar, very handsome and apparently very-weird-coffee-shop owner entered. He leant in the doorway and looked at the blonde girl behind the counter, saying loud enough for Remus to hear _“Do you put this shit on every time I’m late?”_ to which the blonde girl hit him with a cloth. He said something else to her and she retreated out from behind the counter and headed over to the record-store section and started rifling through a section. 

Sirius then started dismantling the coffee machine, before reassembling it the exact same way it was previously set up. The girl had chosen a record and crossed had taken Sunny side up off the turntable and was currently taking something else out of the sleeve. 

“You’re a scheming piece of waste, Alex.” Remus hissed at them, mostly joking, they smiled and laughed quietly. Teddy had pried himself off Jules and was now sitting in the armchair next to Remus listing what he wanted for his breakfast so Remus decided to take that as his excuse to stay. He wanted to stay anyways, he just didn’t like being set up. But maybe it was worth it for the view of Sirius blowing a piece of hair out of his face as he wrangled with a coffee machine. It was a good view, a lot of strained biceps and grappling. 

The record the girl had put on popped into a start, Remus recognised it instantly from the opening note; it was playing _One day like this_ by _Elbow._ This song gave him the same feeling as watching Teddy sway with his arms out earlier that morning, like everything had slot into place and there was magic in his veins. It was his wedding song, he’d decided that when he’d first heard it, that this song was going to be the soundtrack to the happiest day of his life. A lot of things had changed for him since two-thousand-and-eight, he was less angsty for one, but this song still makes him feel the same as it had hanging out of the passenger window of his friends car, eyes closed with the wind in his hair and the sun on his skin. It was ethereal, and he felt full of the marrow of life, beyond full; overflowing with it. That feeling and the song were one in the same, he’d called the radio station and got them to play it the day Teddy was born, Jules had played it as the first song at their university graduation party, his dad had played it when he opened his A level results and found out he’d got into UCL; and now it was playing while he made eye-contact with Sirius in a nearly empty café. 

_‘’Cause holy cow, I love your eyes,’_

He felt dizzy. 

_‘And only now I see the light,’_

His blood felt like it was fizzing. 

_‘Yeah, lying with you half awake.’_

He could see Sirius' creased forehead even from this far away, the flex of his biceps as he clutched the dish cloth in his hand. He couldn't see the grey of his eyes or the faint scar he had above his lip, he couldn't see the curl of his lashes or the delicate bones in his hands. But, his stomach twisted like he could, from the other side of the room he felt too close and too far away at the same time. The world had stopped spinning but the room had started turning. Sirius put down the cloth and started walking towards him. 

_‘Oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make this chapter substantially longer than it is, but I also wanted to do the morning from Sirius' perspective. 
> 
> One day like this is quite literally one of my favourite songs ever and I 1000% you go and listen to it if you haven't before.
> 
> the next chapter is gonna be a lot more eventful I promise.


	5. A Lovely Day?

At sometime before dawn on Monday morning Sirius Black was lay on the floor of his café watching the flicker of the street slights slip through the blinds and draw patterns on the roof. He had an empty bottle of Pinot Noir in his left hand, a cigarette in his right and a head full of thoughts that wouldn’t slot together. When the light blinked out and the room plunged into darkness, he felt as if consciousness was flowing forth from his body and filling every nook and cranny of the room and then he’d flex his toes to remind himself he was real. It was so perfectly black, the lampshade he’d been tracing the lines of with his eyes was gone, the walls he had seen out the corner of his vision had vanished; if he thought about it hard enough he was sure the floor had melted away from underneath him, that he was floating in the darkness, in the abyss. Then the streetlamp would blink on and he was on the floor in the café lying on his back being melodramatic. Off again and he was gone. 

An hour ago he was mopping his own vomit of his kitchen tiles, an hour before that he was gorging on a batch of apple strudel he’d made the hour earlier. Before that he’d attempted to fix the sink, and an hour before that he’d organised all the dry ingredients in the pantry into alphabetical order. Now it was as if he was inside his own mind, staring at the murk of his own consciousness. He flexed his toes. He remembered had toes, and feet, legs and arms, a chest and a head; that he was real. The light flickered back on, and he was in the café. Off and he was floating, or sinking. On and he was on the floor. Off and he was nowhere. 

He liked that, it made him feel infinite. Like he’d been pulled apart and the crumbs of him had been thrown in the corners of _everything_. No, not pulled apart; dissolved. In the stretched out darkness he’d been absorbed by the universe. Then the light would blink back on and he was a man lay on the floor of his café with jeans that pinched a bit too much at the flesh on his hips and too cold feet. Off and he was nothing.

He wished he could turn off his brain sometimes, he thought about anything and everything and sometimes it felt like he had so many thoughts they were clawing at the backs of his eyes to try and escape his skull. He was thinking about drive-in movie theatres, banana splits and ragged footballs. He was thinking about tote bags, toy robots, cacti, ornate plate collectors, shoe makers and painters. He was thinking about big fish, little fish, clown fish, circus clowns and fire breathers. He was thinking about the Queen, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and James May. Top Gear, Top Gun, AK’s and butterfly knives. He was thinking of James and Lily, Harry, Teddy and Remus. He was thinking of Remus’ arms, and his hands and his smile. Then the lights came back on and he thought about replacing the lampshade that was hanging over him. Off and he thought of lips, and teeth and the flecks of gold in his eyes. 

At some point he fell asleep. 

“Jesus. Fuck!” Was the first thing he said when he woke up, the next was “Christ. Stop it will you.” 

Marlene was standing over him with her best attempt at a disapproving glance painted across her face, her hair was plaited neatly down her back and her apron smoothed out and tied perfectly. As always, she looked like the image of perfection and Sirius felt like shit and probably looked like it too. 

“Wanna explain?” She asked, raising one of her eyebrows. 

Sirius didn’t move, he just groaned and thought about the pain in his side from where she’d kicked him awake. Marlene didn’t move either, she just raised her eyebrow higher still. 

Sirius sighed, “Fell asleep.” he moved his hand to rub his face and realised he was still holding the empty wine bottle. He set it down on the floor next to him and rubbed his face, then pushed himself to a sitting position, “What time is it?” 

Dawn had seeped in through the still closed blinds and bathed the room in golden-yellow, he could hear birds chirping and cars passing the front of the shop. 

“Ten to six.” Marlene said, offering him her hand to drag him up. He took it and when he stood his head started spinning and he grabbed her shoulder to steady himself. “Woah there. Go have a shower, then come back and help me with the croissants.” She patted his shoulder and he nodded. 

Sirius groaned, and proceeded through the shop front into the kitchen and then climbed the stairs to his flat on wobbly legs and fumbled his way into the shower, his jeans had left red marks on the fat on his hips and his neck and shoulders felt like they’d been tied in knots. He turned the shower up to hot and climbed in, resting his forehead against the tiles and letting the water slide down his back. The heat soaked into his muscles and he began to feel more human and less like a walking corpse - coffee would also help with that feeling. He scooped up a bar of soap (cedar and lemon, which he pretends was a gift from Lily and he didn’t travel halfway across the city to buy fancy soap) and lathered it up in his palms, sighing when the thick meadowy scent filled the room, and then scrubbing every inch of his body. He stood in the shower for a while after he was done, until the water began to cool and his fingers were lined with shrivelled ridges; eventually he got out, wrapped a towel around himself and made his way towards his bedroom. 

He picked out an outfit that he knew he looked good in, dark blue jeans and a _Catfish and the Bottlemen_ t-shirt, and lined his eyes with a little bit of brown eye-liner. Looking put together and attractive, he’d discovered, was always a good distraction when feeling a bit sleep-deprived. He checked his reflection in the mirror inside his wardrobe and grabbed a thick blue plaid shirt-jacket and his boots before hopping downstairs and putting them on as he went. 

When he entered the kitchen Marlene was already sorting the ingredients for this morning's fresh pastry - and looking slightly annoyed, likely due to the relocation of the dry ingredients - she looked up when he walked in and scowled slightly but it wasn’t intimidating. 

“Your phone has been going off for the last ten minutes.” She said, gesturing to the counter-side where he’d discarded his phone last night. He nodded and walked over to it, picking it up to check the messages. 

_James Potter (6:02 am) : been called into work today, can i drop harry off later?_

_James Potter (6:11 am) : just remembered the aquarium thing, i told harry you’d still take him_

_James Potter (6:12 am) : he asked if he could bring a friend i said yes_

_James Potter (6:15 am) : are u awake? Ur not replying and i need to set off soon._

_James Potter (6:17 am) : i need to set off reply to me_

_James Potter (6:17 am) : sirius?_

_James Potter (6:17 am) : sirius come on_

_James Potter (6:18 am) : padfoot_

_James Potter (6:18 am) : PADFOOT_

_James Potter (6:19 am) : im setting off now ill just leave him with marls if ur asleep._

Sirius snorted as he read the texts and Marlene shot him a confused look, “S’James.” he told her, “He’s got work so he’s dropping Harry off.” 

Marlene nodded, “Ah, ok. Are you still planning on going galivanting or is James half the fun of a children's day out?” 

“Still going.”

By ‘galivanting’ Marlene was referring to James, Sirius and Harry’s _‘lads day out’_ which had been planned on Saturday night in post-party madness. James had bought a family ticket to an aquarium and sea world for monday, which was supposed to be for the family until Lily had declared she had to work and Sirius was invited instead; then James dubbed it a lads day out. Now James had been called into work too, likely for an important crack in his current case, and it was just Sirius and Harry. Not that neither would object, Sirius was probably Harry’s favourite person (bar his imaginary friend who can ride a dinosaur) and Harry had been Sirius’ person since he made a _‘Pa’_ sound before a _‘Ma’_ or a _‘Da’._ Sirius would actually prefer to spend the day with just him and Harry than with Harry and a friend of his, mostly because not many parents trust their child with the non-biological uncle of their child’s friend and therefore insist on coming along and most of Harry’s friends parents are more than mildly obnoxious; but, if Harry asked Sirius could put up with spending the day with a range-rover-mum as long as Harry was happy. 

“What time is he dropping him off?” Marlene asked, weighing out a bowl full of flour. 

Sirius turned his phone back on to check the time _6:32_ , “They set off like ten minutes ago. Should be here soon.” 

Marlene nodded again, “Ok well go find me the sour cherry chunks seeing as you moved them.” She told him, before gesturing over her shoulder. Sirius nodded and wandered into the pantry, he had organised alphabetically but he couldn’t remember if he’d put 'Sour cherry chunks' under ‘S’ or ‘C’, after about ten minutes of searching he found them under ‘D’, presumably for ‘Dried Fruit’ but he wasn’t too sure. He lifted up the large bulk bag and walked back into the kitchen just in time to see James’ car pull into a parking space on the opposite side of the alleyway. 

James got out of the car looking uncharacteristically smart in a full suit and walked straight to the kitchen door, he opened it and stepped into the room smiling at Marlene before turning to Sirius. 

“So you are awake.” 

“Sorry mate, I was in the shower.” Sirius shrugged, “Where’s Harry?” 

“In the car. Asleep.” James tugged at his hair slightly and stepped a bit closer to Sirius, “Look, I feel really bad for skipping out on the trip today but we have a real shot at nailing Crouch and I just can’t miss that. So, make it the best trip to the fucking aquarium physically possible yeah?” 

Sirius nodded, “Ok. You know he doesn’t think you do it deliberately? Right?” 

James just shrugged and looked guilty, “I know, but he didn’t even get upset this morning - not that I want him to be upset - but I think he’s getting used to being let down by me, and Lils, and I just -- ugh.” He started tugging on his hair and Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. 

“You’re a great dad Jamie, he was probably just too tired to make a fuss.” 

“You reckon?” 

Sirius nodded and smiled, “Think I could convince someone there to let him ride a dolphin because his dad’s too busy catching criminals to come to the aquarium with him?” 

James pushed Sirius back by the shoulder and laughed, “Probably,” He started, then after a few seconds, “Will you need another car seat?” 

“For who?” Sirius pulled a face, confused. 

“The other four year old…” James said like he was stupid. 

“Oh yeah… I mean assuming any of Harry’s friends' mothers will let their little angel into my rust-bucket.” 

James chuckled slightly, “True. I don’t know who he wants to bring but he asked so yano… I couldn’t say no.” 

“It's fine, I can put up with most of the parents.” Sirius said, making his way to the kitchen door so they can go out and get Harry and the car seat, “James.” He said, after realising something, “How am I supposed to contact any of Harry’s friends' parents?” 

“Oh. Just text Lils and ask for their number, she’s got everyone I think.”

Sirius nodded and made his way out to the Subaru, James following behind him and unlocking in the car. Sirius went to the backseat on the passenger side and opened the door, squatting down and unbuckling a sleeping Harry; he had a Beaver Scouts blanket draped over him which made removing his seat belt distinctly harder. When he was free, Sirius scooped him up bridal style and tucked the blanket around him a bit more and turned to James and gestured with his head for him to get the car seat. 

James bent over in the car and started pulling the seat out but tried to straighten his back too soon and ended up hitting the back of his head on the roof of the car. 

“Gaand chaat mera!” He yelled stepping back and cradling his head. He squatted down slightly holding the back of his head before righting himself and kicking the car tyre with his dress shoes. “Ow!” 

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him and Harry stirred in his arms, shaking his head slightly and opening his eyes looking around to get his bearings before looking up at Sirius and cracking a cheeky smile. 

“Daddy said bad words.” He giggled. 

Sirius laughed a bit and smiled at Harry and then James, “Oh I know.” Sirius didn’t speak a lick of hindi but he’d known James since they were eleven and was well versed in his range of expletives, he was pretty sure what he’d just shouted was _‘lick my ass’_ which was a common choice when James was in pain. Sirius, still looking at James said, “You’re a bad influence, Potter.” 

James laughed and held up his middle finger, Harry was angled away and couldn’t see and Sirius laughed. 

“Just get the seat.” He said nodding at the car and turned around back to the shop, adjusting Harry so that he had his legs wrapped around his middle and arms around his neck with the blanket still draped around him; he clung on like some kind of little monkey and it made Sirius feel distinctly loved. He rubbed a hand along Harry’s back and spoke into his hair, “Excited for today then, Prongs Junior?” 

Harry nodded against his neck and said almost too quietly, “Yeah, I wish daddy could come though.” 

Sighing, Sirius continued to rub Harry's back and bent his head down to say directly into Harry’s ear, “Me too.” 

About forty minutes later the croissants were in the oven, Harry was wearing enough flour to bake bread that would feed half the city, Marlene was trying to seem cross and Sirius was clutching to the counter so he didn’t collapse from laughter. 

Harry breathed out heavily and a gust of flour came out of his nose, he laughed slightly and then sneezed - a cute high pitched little noise - which caused him to laugh more. His hair was coated in the flour and his face and arms had a thin layer covering them, he looked like Casper the friendly ghost (Sirius had said as much). He’d tried to grab a bowl off the table to pass it to Marlene to put into the mixer but he’d ended up pulling it at an odd angle so it tipped the bowl and its entire contents poured over him; never the spoil sport, he laughed. 

“Come on we should probably get you cleaned up, Harry.” Sirius said, offering him a hand and grabbing the beaver scout blanket with the other. Harry took Sirius’ hand but instead of holding it properly looped his hand around Sirius’ thumb and allowed his uncle to guide him up the stairs into his flat. Sirius led him into the flat's small bathroom and got him to sit on the toilet with the seat closed before squatting down to talk to him at eye level, “Ok, I’m gonna put your clothes in the washing machine and you can borrow something of mine until they're dry yeah?” Harry nodded, “And we should probably wash your hair, if you want?” 

Harry nodded more vigorously, “Can I have a bath?” he asked excitedly, “With bubbles. Mummy doesn’t let me have bubbles anymore.” 

“She doesn’t let you have bubbles?” Sirius shouted, pretending to be scandalized. Harry shook his head and looked over-dramatically sad, “I suppose,” Sirius started and Harry snapped his head up, “I could allow it.” 

Harry sprung up off the seat and dived towards the taps off the empty bath, Sirius darted forwards and slung his arms around his waist and laughed a bit, setting him back down on the ground properly. 

“Be careful.” Sirius chuckled and then reached around to set the bath taps running, he went into the cupboard under the sink next and pulled a little bottle of blue bubble bath he’d stolen from a hotel room a couple of years ago. He passed it to Harry and then raised his eyebrows, “You won’t make a mess will you?” 

Harry shook his head and clutched the bottle, “No. No uncle Sirius I'd never.” Sirius smiled and ruffled his hair causing a cloud of flour to gather around Harry’s head. 

“Ok. Good lad.” He said before he tried to shake out as much of the flour in Harry’s hair as he could - which wasn’t a lot. Once he’d done that he helped Harry out of his whale of a time t-shirt and jeans and gave him a towel to wrap himself in to keep warm until the bath was full; when it was Sirius allowed him to add the bubble bath and gave him some plastic cups to play in the water with while he went to sort the washing out. 

When he stood in the kitchen and brushed the flour off Harry’s clothes he could hear his nephew giggling and laughing and the sounds of sloshing water coming from the bathroom, and it brought a smile to his face. Examining the damage, he decided that Harry’s little red chinos looked clean enough and it was only the navy t-shirt that was stained with white patches that couldn’t be brushed out. Knowing that putting the washing machine on for one t-shirt was stupid Sirius went back into the bathroom to scrub the shirt in the sink, and decided he may as well do Harry’s trousers too while he’s at it. Harry watched and laughed and continued playing while Sirius washed his clothes until; 

“Uncle Sirius,” He started, putting on a bit more a baby voice than he normally had, “Daddy says I can bring a friend to the ak-war-ee-um.” 

Sirius nodded, “So I've been told.” 

“Ok. Well can you call his dad and ask if he can come?” 

“Yeah, you have to tell me who you want to invite though for me to do that, Harry.” 

Harry chuckled a bit, then, like it was obvious and Sirius was being stupid, “Teddy Lupin.” 

Teddy Lupin. Of course Harry wanted to invite Teddy. Of course Sirius was going to have to - get to - spend the day staring at Remus Lupin; Remus Lupin who has been occupying a good fifty-percent of Sirius’ conscious thoughts since Saturday. Sirius continued to scrub Harry’s t-shirt: Teddy was a good choice really, he seemed nice and relaxed (as relaxed as a four year old can be anyway - more unspoilt than relaxed) and he quite literally had the least objectionable parents of all Harry’s friends. 

“Ok. I’ll text your mummy and get her to give me Teddy’s dad’s phone number.” 

Harry nodded and Sirius nodded back, before grabbing the wet clothes and retreating out the bathroom to put them into the tumble drier. Once he’d set the drier going he went to find his phone and text Lily asking for Remus’ number, explaining that it was definitely just because Harry wanted to invite Teddy on their day out and not because Sirius fancied him. 

“Padfoot.” Harry shouted from the bathroom, “Am done!” 

Sirius put his phone down and walked back to the bathroom to see Harry - whose hair was now suitably flour-free - sat on the closed lid of the toilet seat wrapped in a towel smiling. 

“Ok, Little Prongs, your clothes are in the drier so if you get dry and put your pants on i’ll get a top of mine and we can chill out until the drier is done?” 

Harry nodded and Sirius left the bathroom to go and find an item of clothing that could possibly be small enough to fit Harry, after rooting through all his drawers he found a hoodie that he knew was too small for him but would definitely still drown the little boy and went back to the bathroom to find Harry waiting for him kneeling over the lip of the bath so he could still play with the cold water even though he was dry. Sirius helped him into the jumper that was so long it came down to his mid calves and then picked him up over his shoulder carrying him into the lounge before throwing him down onto the sofa. Harry laughed and kicked his legs in the air in Sirius’ direction, so Sirius swooped down grabbing one of his feet and tickling it until Harry was shrieking and crying with laughter. When Sirius let go of Harry he flopped down next to him on the sofa and Harry watched him for a few seconds before launching himself at Sirius in an attempt at revenge that just led to him being tickled ruthlessly again. Once they’d both calmed down, Sirius turned on his telly and they settled in to watch an episode of _Chuggington._

When the tv show was over Sirius got up to check on Harry’s clothes which where now suitably dry, he also checked his phone to see if Lily had text him back (she hadn’t, but that wasn’t a huge worry she’d likely have her phone off till her morning break), and then went back into the lounge to pry Harry away from the TV and get him dressed again before ambling back downstairs to the café. 

In the kitchen Dorcas was leaning against the counter watching one of the smoothie blenders and Marlene was nowhere to be seen but the smell of burnt coffee and the sound of _Paolo Nutini_ drifting through the door to the shop front indicated she was through there. Harry, upon seeing Dorcas, waddled over to her and started talking about how he helped make this morning's croissants and Sirius decided he should probably go and get the coffee machine working.

Malrene was leaning down and organising pastries into rows when Sirius entered so to get her attention he said, rather loudly, “Do you put this shit on every time I’m late?” 

Marlene turned to him quickly, pulling the cloth over her shoulder to hit him with. “Fuck you, Black.”

He smirked at her, “Put on something decent and I’ll wrangle with Walburga here.” 

“Any requests?” 

“Uh-“ Sirius thought about it for a second, he wanted something up-beat but not aggressively happy - aggressive happy and pop-y radio music made him want to dash his brains out against a wall - he had plenty of go too uplifting songs, but settled on one he hadn’t heard in a long time, “One day like this, Elbow.” 

Marlene stalked off to change the music and Sirius got to work dismantling the coffee machine, it was especially hot to the touch at the moment in places that it shouldn’t be and he wondered why he wouldn’t just give in and buy himself another machine. Once he’d detached all the pieces he stared at the shell of the contraption for a few moments before re-attaching them; by the time he was done he could hear the opening notes of the song playing. 

He’d always thought this song was lovely. It wasn’t good, or bad, or great; it was _lovely_. He couldn’t describe it but it was a very specific thing for something to be, and it was rare he deigned something worthy of the title. The crumbling gazebo at the bottom of the garden of his childhood home was lovely. Dancing in the rain was lovely. The nook in the top corner of the Lloyd George Library at his old school was lovely. The taste of homemade lemonade was lovely. For Sirius to think something was lovely instead of pretty, relaxing, amazing or calming was a great feat and a rarity; but this song was just that, lovely. 

He closed his eyes for a few seconds to listen to the lyrics, breathing in carefully through his nose and out through his mouth and allowing himself to feel the loveliness of it wash over him. 

_‘Someone tell me how I feel.  
In a silly wrong, but vivid right’ _

He opened his eyes to find Marlene and smile at her, maybe give her a cheeky wink but he was met with another pair of eyes staring at him. 

_‘Oh, kiss me like a final meal  
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight.’ _

Brown eyes flecked with gold, and even though he couldn’t see that from this far away, he knew exactly where the lines of amber ran. He could feel the weight of the gaze pressing against his skin without seeing the details of pupils and delicate eyelashes. 

_‘’Cause holy cow I love your eyes.’_

He wasn’t sure if this was a coincidence, or an accident or fate. Perhaps it was divine intervention of some kind. But, he felt like a part of the universe now, more than he had lay in the dark on the shop floor. It felt strangely like he was in control, because frankly, what were the chances. 

_‘And only now I see the light.’_

What were the chances that Remus Lupin - gorgeous, handsome Remus Lupin with his perfect lips and jaunty limbs - would be in his café for the first time on the morning he was trying to get into contact with him. The morning after Sirius had fallen asleep about ten paces from where Remus was now sat, thinking about the pattern of his freckles and the shape of his fingers. 

_‘Yeah, lying with you half awake.’_

Remus was eyeing him with a mouth watering intensity, like he was zooming in on him while the rest of the world was going hazy in the background. Sirius’ brain was threatening to overflow, he couldn’t isolate a single thought on the matter and he felt worryingly close to combustion. It was too strange, too coincidental and coupled with Remus looking like he’d come face to face with a god - slack jawed, lips parted and eyes wide - it was all together too lovely. 

Sirius wrung the cloth in his hands in an attempt to clutch onto the reality, perhaps this was a dream… After all, it didn’t _feel_ real. He flexed his toes inside his shoes. He felt the drag of his socks against the smoothed insole of his boots and the light crack in one of his toes; he was real and he was awake. This was actually happening and Remus was actually sitting there staring at him like he’d hung the sun. He threw the towel town and walked around the counter. 

_‘Oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day.’_

Remus’ face didn’t change as he got closer, he still looked disjointed and out of it when Sirius reached him. Only seeming to snap out of it when Sirius cleared his throat. 

“Hey.” Sirius said, probably a bit too quietly. Remus had watched him approach but clearing his throat had attracted Alex, Jules and Teddy’s attention too. 

“Hey.” Remus replied even quieter, before screwing his face up like he was just waking up and becoming accustomed to a bright light. “Hey.” He repeated, stronger and louder and much more casual. 

“S’the money man.” Teddy interrupted causing Sirius to flick his gaze to him. 

“Mhm.” Jules vocalised to get Teddy’s attention, then held out her hand to him, “Common little puff, let’s get you some breakfast.” Teddy hopped off his chair and grabbed her hand, Alex stood and opened their mouth to say something but shut it again and just gestured to the counter and followed Teddy and Jules. 

“They lured me here.” Remus said, drawing Sirius’ attention back to him. 

“Oh.” 

“Not that I wouldn’t have come if I did know you owned the place. but I” He paused, “didn’t.” 

“Well,” Sirius pulled a smile across his face which felt strangely difficult to do now he knew Remus didn’t end up in here due to the magical pull of the universe or crazy coincidence, “Good job they did because I was actually trying to get into contact with you.” 

Remus looked a bit shocked, “You were?” 

“Harry wanted to invite Teddy to come to the aquarium with us this afternoon.” 

“Oh.” The golden light of Remus’ eyes seemed to dim slightly. 

“So…” Sirius began, resisting the urge to shove his hands into his pockets in an uncharacteristically awkward gesture, “Would he want to? And you ofcourse, you’re invited too.” 

“Uh- well you’d have to ask him. Though I assume he’ll say yes.” Remus stopped to think for a second, “He’s been awake since really early I don’t know if it’s a good idea actually.” 

That made Sirius’ gut clench slightly, it felt like some kind of excuse but when he looked properly at Remus’ face it was clear he really just was concerned for his son. 

“So has Harry actually. I was going to get him to sleep in the car.” 

“Oh. Yeah, well. Which aquarium is it? Because Rhaphsom is only twenty minutes away and Teddy needs more sleep than that to make it through the day without a hissy fit.” Remus laughed. 

“It’s The Neptune Centre. The one in Cambridge, so like an hour drive, maybe an hour and half.” Sirius felt a strange urge to convince Remus that Teddy was ok to come with them and despite his efforts to convince himself it was purely for Harry’s benefit he knew that wasn’t true. 

“Mmm. Yeah you’ll have to ask Teddy then.” 

“Ask Teddy what?” Jules interrupted sliding back into her spot on the sofa and placing a tray full of pastries onto the table. Sirius found Juliette strangely intimidating, despite her kind smile and the twenty minute rant about saving a baby elephant from a river, she had a fear-striking aura. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t hesitate to filet him like a fish should the need arise; and she had this strange look like she always knew what he was thinking. 

“If he wants to go to the aquarium with Harry today.” Remus supplied, leaning forward to pluck a cup off the tea of the tray. 

Teddy looked frozen with his mouth slightly open and his eyes wheezing between Remus, Jules and Sirius. After a moment he started vibrating in the spot and Sirius thought he mildy resembled a bomb that was about to go off. 

“Yes.” He muttered. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…” 

Remus looked up at Sirius, “That’s a yes then.” 

“Clearly.” 

“What time are you planning to go?” 

“Eleven maybe. Twelve.” Sirius replied. Remus nodded and looked back at Teddy who was still jittering and muttering. “Teddy, come and sit down.” 

That seemed to snap Teddy out his mumbley trance because he snapped his head to Remus, and then to Sirius, “Can dad come?” 

“Yeah.” Sirius told him and Teddy cracked a huge grin. 

“Did you know me and dad have adopted a dolphin?” He asked. Sirius shook his head and Teddy continued, “Well we have.” 

“That's very cool.” He told Teddy, overly aware of Jules’ eyes on him, “Harry has a pet snake you know?” 

Teddy’s eyes blew up like saucers, they were just like Remus’ Sirius realised, rich browns and gold. Teddy all but dived at Remus to start asking him about snakes and pets and god knows what else. Sirius’ looked at Jules who appeared to be watching him with her head tilted to the side like some kind of wild animal observing prey; Alex was watching him over the top of their coffee mug. They were smiling in a calm _‘happy to see you’_ sort of way, Jules’ look was more like _‘I can see into your soul and I know you’re disappointed that Remus wasn’t brought here by the pull of fate.’_

She watched him for a few seconds before saying, slowly, “It’s very nice of you to invite Teddy out with you.” 

Sirius smiled at her, “It was Harry who wanted to invite him, not that I mind obviously.” 

“Obviously.” She said in an all-knowing kind of way that made Sirius think she knew about and had catalogued every thought he’d ever had about Remus. “Teddy doesn’t have that many friends his age,” She paused and looked at Teddy who was tugging at the collar of Remus’ tshirt and babbling, “I’m glad Harry likes him enough to ask him to the aquarium.” 

“Me too.” He joked, “A lot of Harry’s friends are a bit stuck up. Teddy seems much more chill.” 

“That’s my influence.” Alex pitched in, and Jules and Sirius laughed. 

“I am serious,” Jules started, “I am glad Teddy and Harry have become friends. And I’m glad they seem to be getting on well. Teddy didn’t mention boys from school much but he always seemed to like Harry.” 

Sirius nodded, all he could think to say to that was _‘No I’m Sirius._ ’ so he didn’t say anything. Remus had managed to pry Teddy off of him and coax him into eating a breakfast pastry and spoke up to get Sirius’ attention. 

“Can we?” he gestured to another corner of the café. Sirius nodded and followed after Remus when he got up. 

“Yeah?” 

“It’s really nice of you to invite him, and me, I guess. I heard Jules talking before and she’d right, Teddy doesn’t have too many friends but he’s never had a bad word to say about Harry so I’m glad they’re getting on well.” 

“Me too.” Sirius interrupted. 

“Ok, so how much will the ticket cost? And what time will I need to set off to meet you there on time?” 

“Oh.” Sirius said, clearly he hadn’t been clear, “You don’t owe me for the ticket, James bought it. I don’t even know how much it cost but it’s a family ticket so it’s got all of us covered. And, well, I was gonna drive us all… If that's alright?” 

“Oh. Yeah. Sure. Ok” Remus nodded. “What time do you want to set off then, and where should we meet you?” 

“Eleven? And, I can pick you up from yours?” Saying that made Sirius feel like he was asking Remus on a date and he had to try very hard not to slip down the thought rabbit hole of dating Remus. 

He nodded, “Yeah. Sure. Give me your phone I’ll put in my address and phone number.” 

Remus gave Sirius his phone number and text his address, some block of flats a few streets over from the shop, and then went back to his breakfast. Harry had emerged from the back room at some point and he and Teddy had gushed over sea life and snakes for half an hour until Remus decided he and Teddy needed to go home and get ready and Teddy had to practically be dragged out of the café and only seemed to agree to leave knowing that in less than two hours he’d be on his way to the aquarium. 

At quarter to eleven Sirius stood in the alleyway out the back of the café trying to fit the second car seat James had left for him into the back seat of his beat up Toyota Corolla. The car was a pathetic excuse for a motor vehicle, it was temperamental as all hell and had a collection of bowling ball sized dents up and down the doors on both sides; he probably should buy a new car, he had the money, but it had sentimental value, he and James had skipped a day in sixth form to run off and buy it with their collective savings. 

Harry stood behind him waiting patiently for him to sort out his seat, fidgeting with the blanket in his hands and occasionally asking Sirius if he’s done yet. When he had, he helped Harry into his car, fastened his seat belt for him and got in himself.

“What music do you want, mystro?” Sirius asked as they pulled out onto the street. 

Harry clapped his hands together and kicked a little bit on his car seat, “Princess and the Frog!” he shouted excitedly. 

“Princess and the frog.” Sirius repeated, before leaning over when they stopped at a red light to search for the princess and the frog CD in the glove box. “Good choice.” He said as he slipped the disk in a few seconds later, pressed play and _Down In New Orleans_ started playing. Looking in the rear-view mirror he could see Harry bopping in his car seat, he didn’t know all the words to all the songs on this CD, but he did make sure to shout the ‘rich people, poor people all got dreams’ line. It was disgustingly cute. 

Remus’ building was only a few minutes away by car and he and Teddy were waiting on the curb when they arrived. Remus had ex-changed his worn out jeans for a pair of army green cargo shorts and despite the hideousness of the garment Sirius had to consciously keep looking away; Remus’ knee’s, much like the rest of him, were jaunty and angular and artistic. 

“This is princess and the frog.” Teddy said to Harry as Remus was buckling him into the car seat. 

“It’s my favourite.” Harry told him, then immediately changed his mind, “Actually no, second favourite, Mulan is better.” 

“Yeah. She has a sword!” 

Sirius snorted and Remus snapped his head up to look at him and smiled, before looking back to Teddy, pulling slightly on the over the shoulder straps of the seat to check their tightness. Teddy tried to bat him off but Remus gave him a look very similar to Lilys ‘mum-glare’ and he sat still until Remus approved of the car seat, then Remus pushed his fringe back from his forehead and smiled at him before slipping out of the back of the car, shutting the door and getting in the passenger seat. 

“Hello.” He said, over the sound of both Teddy and Harry singing along to _Almost There._

“Hi.” Sirius said, putting the car into gear and setting off again, he explained to Remus that he’d googled the route to the aquarium and that the drive would take an hour and a half. He suggested that when they arrive they get lunch and Remus pointed at the back-pack in the footwell in front of him and said he’d made sandwiches which made Sirius laugh because he too had a back-pack full of food in the car boot. 

The conversation dissipated in favour of singing along with the movie soundtrack, Teddy and Harry practically yelled the words to _Friends on the Otherside_ and Sirius joined in as loudly as he could without it being embarrassing. At first Remus didn’t join in, but after Teddy had shouted at him, _‘Daddy, I know you know the words.’_ he’d been forced to mumble along loud enough for Teddy to hear. After one of the slower songs on the CD Sirius turned the volume way down to encourage Harry and Teddy to sleep and thus they’d both drifted off by the time the car was pulling onto the motorway. 

“So, tell me about yourself.” Remus said, lifting his head off the window and looking at Sirius who flexed his hands on the wheel. 

“Um. What do you wanna know?” He asked, glancing at Remus out of the corner of his eye who just shrugged. “Ok well, I own the café. Have done for about - oh god - ten years? S’good, I like it.” 

“Ten years? You must’ve been young when you opened.” 

“Yeah, nineteen.” When Remus didn’t say anything else he continued, “My uncle left me some money when he died and I figured I should do something with it. I loaned out the flat upstairs to Marlene - the blonde one, I don’t know if you met her before - until about five years ago maybe. Lily got sick of me living with her and James and Marls was moving in with Dorcas anyways.”

Remus nodded, “Makes sense, the café is nice by the way. Alex was gushing about the brick work for like twenty minutes.” 

“Of course. What about you?” 

“What about me? Yeah I thought the brick work was ok I guess.” Remus said, sounding a bit confused.

Sirius laughed and switched lanes, “I meant tell me about yourself.” He clarified when he was done, and glanced at Remus who was now blushing a little. 

“Oh. Yeah. Well I’m a teacher, but you knew that. I’ve been teaching since I qualified when I was twenty-two. I love it actually.” 

“How long ago was that then?” Sirius asked, realising shortly afterwards he couldn’t be less subtle trying to work out how old Remus was. 

“Subtle.” Remus chuckled, “Nine years ago. Been living down here since I was eighteen though, I moved for uni.” 

“Thirty-one.” Sirius mused, “You don’t look it.” 

“Older?” Sirius could feel Remus shifting in his seat to look at him a bit better when he asked. 

“No. God no.” Remus smiled at that, Sirius caught a glimpse of his dimples before he forced himself to keep his eyes on the road. “Tell me something else. Something good. Ooo, something embarrassing.” 

“Hmmm.” Remus mused, “Ok. I have a bit of a hoarding problem,” Sirius wasn’t sure he believed that, Remus seemed the organised type, Sirius was the hoarding type, “I have, I don't even know, maybe eighty books I can’t even read.” 

“What do you mean you can’t read them?”

“They’re in languages I don’t speak.” 

Sirius laughed quietly to himself, “I have about a thousand vinyl records for bands I don't even like in my flat so you’re good.” 

Remus smiled again, and Sirius could definitely see his dimples this time, “Tell me something about you then, embarrassing or otherwise.” 

“Ok,” Sirius considered what story to tell for a minute or two and Remus sat patiently letting him think, “In school me, James and our mate Pete - you remember Pete right?” Remus nodded, “Well we fancied ourselves as pranksters you see. And one night, in sixth year I think, we snuck out of our dorm and went to the kitchens. There was this huge party being thrown for the slug club the next day -”

“Slug club?” 

“An elite chemistry club that the likes of me, Jamie and Pete weren’t worthy of - Lily was though, but I’ll get to that. Anyway, so our plan was to sneak into the kitchen and deposit about, three maybe four ounces of - you know -” He lighted his finger to his lips to indicate smoking, “grass into the batter of the cake they were making for Slug club. Our target was like, the main demographic the club attracted, the aristocratic assholes that were in our rival house. Well, yeah, it worked. We got it in, snuck out, didn't get caught or anything and then the next day we were sat on the quad waiting for like - i don’t know - the chem lab to explode or whatever. And instead Lily comes running towards with a slice of cake in each hand, and back then she didn’t usually tolerate us; James had been in love with her _forever_ and she hated me, so it was properly weird. But she comes up to us and thrusts this cake at us telling it’s the best thing she’s ever eaten, and her eyes look a little red and she’s giggly so we think it’s got to be the _special_ cake right?” 

“I assume it wasn’t?” 

“No.” Sirius said. “It wasn’t. Turns out, the little nerds that they are, they worked out there was something up with the cake pretty sharpish. Process of elimination led them to either us or these two older guys - the Prewitts - being responsible, so they decided they’d go for revenge.” 

“Right…” Remus said slowly, sounding confused. “So the cake Lily brought you?” 

“It was _special_ alright. The entire bunch of ‘em, teacher included baked a second cake laced with phenolphthalein. Then they faked being high to get us to eat it, got the Prewitts to try some too.” 

“Phenolphthalein?” 

“It’s an indicator used in lab work.” Sirius said, “Also happens to be a powerful laxative.” 

Remus burst out laughing, clutching at his t-shirt and may have even shed a few tears. Sirius had to try very hard not to end up the same way and risk the safety of the car. They didn’t talk much after that, Remus went back to resting his head against the window and only lifting it up whenever Teddy would wake up and ask if they’re nearly there yet, to which Remus said _‘No’ ,‘Still no’_ and _‘Maybe it’ll be quicker if you stopped asking?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is actually eventful I *SWEAR* 
> 
> also the idea of Lily getting revenge on Sirius and James makes me laugh
> 
> I had some trouble with the, like, tone of the chapter because I couldn't seem to keep it consistent but I think it's turned out ok
> 
> I hope u liked it.


End file.
